Maine Events
by Equivamp
Summary: Life after Breaking Dawn. Jacob and his pack and the Cullens move to a new town with new identities and are surprised to find they are not alone. Can two clans unite before time runs out?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**Jacob's POV**

I did not live in Washington anymore and neither did the Cullens. We didn't want to leave; the Olympic Peninsula had special meaning to all of us. It was where Edward realized he didn't have to be alone anymore. It was where Bella had become my best friend and where she realized she was meant for more than a mundane human life. Alice had found herself an unwilling shopping partner. It was where Esme and Carlisle watched their family grow (in more ways than one). It was where Nessie, my entire reason for existing, had been born. It was where _I_ had been born. It was home.

But we couldn't stay there.

The Cullens couldn't age anymore than I could. There was an important difference though: They _had_ to be seen. I could move into the woods and become a recluse, not many people would question it, and most would suspect the reason why. But the Cullens had been seen and they had been seen for several years and people were beginning to realize that none of them were aging. Each passing year left their faces unaffected. I suppose for most of the legions of the undead, being seen isn't really a necessity, but then most vampires are not the Cullens.

My pack had come with me, all but one. Quil couldn't bear to be separated from his Claire. I didn't blame him; I knew he stayed behind for the same reasons that had force me to leave. Imprinting. Leah had been furious with me when I announced my decision. She ranted and raved, and when she was done, she begrudgingly agreed to go with me. What choice did she have? Go back to Sam's pack? Yeah, right, like that would ever happen. Stay behind? That would be foolish and she knew it. It was no good to be alone.

And Leah _would_ be alone because both Seth and Embry had refused to stay in La Push while I chased my imprint to Maine. Sue was honeymooning with Charlie and, might I add, good for him. And Billy? Well Billy was coming too.

I could hazard a few guesses as to why my dad wanted to come. For starters, Charlie had not been the only one with his eyes on Sue. Then Sue had made her choice, and she had chosen Charlie. As far as I could tell, Billy harbored no ill will toward either of them, despite the sting, but his best friend was now busy with the whole newlywed kick. My sisters were gone too. Rebecca was still in Hawaii and Rachael and Paul had finally gotten their own place. Not to mention he had grown attached to the Cullens and their little mutant member. Nessie really was easy to love.

It actually was kind of convenient that he came. Leah was now my older sister. Embry was my younger brother. Seth was younger still. One kid for every grade high school has to offer. Billy was our grandfather. He didn't take that news very well, but the logic behind it couldn't be denied… He had aged, we hadn't.

The Cullens had their lies down too. Edward, Bella and Nessie were brother and sisters. Adopted. Nessie was starting freshman year, while Bella and Edward played sophomores with Alice. Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett played juniors, although the three looked like they should be teaching as opposed to learning. I bet Emmett would teach wrestling. There was sure to be _many_ injuries on that team, most of which were probably accidentally inflicted by the coach. Anyways, they were the fosters.

They weren't the Cullens anymore either. A new move meant new aliases. The Cullens had become the Boulays and Bella had freaked out over that new insight. Bella Boulay? Jasper and Rosalie were still pretending to be twins although now they were the Stanleys. Three guesses where the inspiration for that name came from. Emmett was now Emmett Douglas. I guess it's true after all: The cheese stands alone.

Maine was chosen because it was heavily forested, of course, for the Boulay family, that meant prime hunting grounds. It was also sparsely populated which meant more time to do top secret vampire and werewolf activities without getting a cover blown. Like sunbathing for example. Or exploding out of one's clothes, for another. The downside was that it didn't have quite the same comfy climate that my extended family used to enjoy. Translation: Every season was not rainy season. That meant the vampires were home schooled with the exception of Nessie. Luckily, Carlisle managed to pull a few strings, strings that would allow his children to attend certain social gatherings… like school dances. I hate to admit it, but I was impressed. Vampires sure knew how to finesse.

I had asked Nessie to go to the winter formal with me. As my date. Our first _official _date. I was already sitting at the Boulays dining room table in my tux waiting for Nessie to finish getting ready. I kinda wish I hadn't been early because sitting across from me was a very unhappy Edward Boulay. Okay, _unhappy_ was the understatement of the year.

I had never seen anybody glare at another person the way Edward was now glaring at me. Not even Blondie and that is saying something. His teeth were clamped so tightly together I was astonished that they didn't crack from the pressure. His mouth was a tight, squished little line. His eyes were wide and unblinking as he stared me down. His entire body had been frozen like a statue, but in a tense sort of way that made him look like he was about to spring at me at any moment's notice. To make matters worse I was beginning to get a horrifying urge to reach out and poke him, you know, just to make sure he was still in there. I resisted that urge. I wanted to keep my fingers.

Edward and I had been doing really well for a while now. We were friends and on rare occasions I had started to think of him as a short, pale brother in badly need of a bath. Then Renesmee had turned sixteen (sort of) and things had turned… Stressful. I don't see why he's so surprised; he had to know this day was coming…

Gees, look at that face! I bet Bella's bloodsucker is just dying to kill me.

In response to that thought, Edward's lips relaxed a little, creating a hair-raising dreamy looking smile that didn't quite go with the anger in his eyes.

I sucked in a sharp breath as I realized what it was. Edward was imagining it! Edward was actually imagining killing me!

I remember all the times I sat with Bella on the beach, or in my garage, cockily claiming to be able to take on Edward. Of course then I hadn't had Renesmee, I hated Edward, and I wanted Bella. I honestly thought I could take Edward out of the picture if I wanted too. Now looking at the frightening glare on his face, watching him imagine my death, it made me wonder…

It was just a date, honestly! I had even promised to have her home by ten thirty! What was the big deal? It's not like we were doing anything a normal parent wouldn't want their normal kid to be doing. Of course, there was nothing normal about our situation, but really… If this was how he was reacting to a school dance, what was he going to do the day Nessie and I did decide to take it to a physical level…

Edward lurched an inch forward at that thought. I flinched back an inch. His eyes tightened and his left cheek began twitching, twitching, twitching. The twitching cheek caused his left eye to look like it was resisting the urge to blink. Of course, he didn't blink. I began to worry a little at this. Was he having a stroke? He looked like he was having a stroke. Could vampires have strokes?

"Bella!" I called out, without taking my eyes off him. "Bella!"

Bella was there in a flash. Her gold eyes flickered between my face and his and then she yelled, "Jasper! Dining room! Now!" Then she was at Edward's side.

Bella was taking the news pretty well considering she tried to kill me that first day she found out I imprinted. I remember wanting to put off telling Bella the news. I should have known that I wouldn't be able to hide something like that from Bella. She might have been a newborn vampire but she was still Bella. And Bella was never stupid. Naïve, yes. Stupid, no.

"Edward, we all knew this would happen sooner or later," Bella kind of crooned at him. "Edward, you need to calm down." She kneeled next to him and stroked his face, trying to soothe him.

Where the hell was Jasper?

"Edward," Bella tried again. "Think of Nessie. You have to accept this for her. If you can't get over this, it will hurt her…"

At the mention of Nessie, Edward's face melted. He looked at Bella. I breathed a little easier. If there was one thing Edward couldn't do, it was hurt Nessie. She was his little girl.

"Yes she is, mutt," hissed Edward.

I knew what that really meant. That meant, _"Hurt her and die, freak!"_

"Yes it does," said Edward, speaking through his teeth.

The fact that he didn't look at me either of the times he spoke, didn't go unnoticed.

Alice's voice called through the tension, "Presenting… Miss Renesmee-"

"Auntie Alice!" We all heard Renesmee interrupt in more subdued tones.

"What?" Alice whispered back.

"Nessie. Jake likes Nessie!"

My heart soared when I heard her whisper that. Yes, Jake definitely likes Nessie. Then I caught sight of the glare on Edward's face, aimed once again at me. I wiped the grin off of my face pretty quickly.

"Presenting…" Alice called out, louder still, "_Nessie_ Carlie Boulay!"

Nessie walked slowly and gracefully down the stairs, followed by Alice and Rosalie, dressed in such a way that my jaw dropped to the floor. She was beautiful. Not that she wasn't always beautiful, but… I mean… wow.

I was vaguely aware that the rest of the vampires had joined us, but I couldn't force my eyes off of Nessie. She twirled around to let us all get a good look.

The dress she wore was of the darkest blue imaginable, just a shade above black. The shiny fabric twisted around Nessie; skin tight at first, and when it reached her waist it flared out ever so slightly and continued to spiral to the ground to hide her feet. A strange glitter was sewn into the fabric - or maybe they were miniature rhinestones - making Nessie appear to be wrapped in the night sky. With her luminous cream skin and her rosy cheeks, she looked unbelievably celestial.

Her bronze hair was not in some outrageous hairstyle as I had expected it to be - How had Alice been talked out of that? - Instead, the curls were pulled out of her face with a modest barrette and allowed to run down her back. Another detail caught my eye just then; the dress was so tight up top because it was strapless. I was suddenly aware of the fact that I had never seen Nessie's cleavage before this moment, and I was aware enough to wish I had not had that particular thought.

_What are you doing to me Ness?_ I wanted to shout. _Right in front of your dad? _But I sighed; it wasn't her fault I couldn't control my thoughts.

"Honey, you're beautiful!" Bella exclaimed.

"Sweetheart, you're amazing," Edward said in that soft voice he saved just for her. For the moment, he didn't look angry. He looked like a father who loved his daughter.

However, Nessie looked at me, barely acknowledging their compliments. "Jake? What do you think?"

I told the truth, of course. "I think… I think you look like an angel."

She must have liked that because then she broke into that breathtaking smile of hers that nearly knocked me off my feet.

I reached my hand out to her, and she placed her hand in mine. It fit so perfectly, I never wanted to let go. I could just kiss her, if it wasn't for this particular audience, if it weren't for the fear of not knowing how I would be received, I could crush my lips to hers and be content to never remove them.

Edward cleared his throat. From my peripheral vision, I could see him looking at me. He was not glaring now, warmed by the presence of his daughter, but I could see his cheek starting to twitch again. Nessie noticed too.

"Dad? Are you okay?"

Edward opened his mouth to speak but Bella got there first.

"Your father is just fine. You kids should get going, don't want to be late."

I cringed at the word _kids._ Who did Bella think she was? She was barely two years older than me. I took the hint despite my annoyance. Edward was ready to crack or he was ready to crack me…

"Where the hell were you?" I muttered to Jasper as I passed by him.

He just chuckled in response.

Nessie and I were almost to the car when we heard it. A loud crash came from inside the house in conjunction with a kind of bonging sound. My best guess was that the grandfather clock had seen its last sunset. We both froze at that sound and looked at each other with sheepish grins. We both knew who had broken something and why. We were then startled by a sound never heard before. Esme's anger.

"Edward!" Esme shrieked at the top of her lungs. "That was an antique!"

Nessie giggled. "C'mon Jake, before my dad decides to make you a fur rug…" She tugged on my hand.

I chuckled back.

"Sure, sure," I replied.

I held the door open for her while secretly wondering if Edward was about to charge out of the house with a skinning knife in hand.

* * *

><p><em>If you're a follower of mine, you've probably been to my blog an known this story was coming. If you're discovering me for the first time, I hope you enjoy my story!<em>

_Maine Events is prewritten and completed. There will not be a long wait between updates, I'm thinking there will be a weekly update._

_Don't be turned away by the new aliases (they really aren't important in the grand scheme of things)._

_As for the other incomplete works on my profile, I am working hard to get them editted and completed...Pop by my blog for more info on that process._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I wasn't terribly surprised at how elaborate the gymnasium looked… Alice had managed to get herself on to the pep squad, dance committee, or party-aholics anonymous… whichever one was in charge of school dances. From the looks of things she may have fibbed a little, as in she probably stayed within the school budget by "donating" some money to the project.

"Oh, Leah!" Nessie called out, pulling me toward the refreshment table.

Leah was very busy gawking at the monstrosity on the table. My eyes bugged a little too, when I realized what it was. The refreshment table had a large ice sculpture at the heart… an ice sculpture that just happened to be a howling wolf. Subtle Alice, very subtle.

Nessie and I didn't have to worry about messing our fancy clothes by struggling through a crowd or accidentally stepping on someone's toes. People pretty much cleared a path for us wherever we went. Nessie, my sweet celestial beauty, was extraordinarily, inhumanly beautiful. I was freakishly big and, as a byproduct of that size, intimidating. People moved out of our way mostly so they could get a better look.

The Cullens, I mean the Boulays, they were used to this sort of thing, but I wasn't. No one in La Push stared because they were either in on the secret and understood the size or because they had known me long enough that no matter what I looked like they didn't view me as a threat. At first, I was a little creeped out by all the attention but now I kinda got a cheap thrill from it.

"Leah, you look perfect!" Nessie trilled at Leah.

Leah glanced at me and pursed her lips. Then she took in a deep breath and smiled at Nessie.

"You look… lovely… Renesmee," Leah said it in a very polite, sincere tone. If I didn't know better I would have thought the compliment was friendly and genuine.

I did know better though. I had to give Leah her due credit though. She was trying. She was making an honest effort. She was less than thrilled when I had imprinted on Nessie, making our temporary alliance with the Cullens, permanent. She hated vampires and she certainly had no desire to like their hybridized offspring. But she was stuck with them whether she liked it or not, and she was now putting forward an honest effort to pretend to like them. In the interest of civility, of course.

I had to give Leah credit in another area as well. She did look nice tonight. She wore a long slinky crimson dress that had black flowers embroidered on one side of the skirt. The other side of the skirt was slit, so when she stepped forward, anybody interested in looking could get a quick preview of her long legs. A long, matching scarf wound itself around her neck and draped down her back to the floor.

"Thanks, Leah. Where's your date?" Nessie asked politely.

Nessie and her family all knew how Leah truly felt in regards to them. However, the feeling was not mutual. For whatever reason, they liked her. I liked her, but then Leah never treated me like some disgusting…well, for lack of a better word, parasite. I was thankful however, that they liked her enough to tolerate her bad manners.

"I came stag. I like options," Leah answered. The smile was so forced it was almost painful to watch.

Honestly, I don't know why she came stag. She actually was attractive. She was abnormally tall, sure, and hard muscled, but the muscles weren't prominent like mine. Just mildly visible. The guys here were not oblivious to the fact that she was… exotic. They just didn't know how exotic. Anybody in this school would be happy to get their chance with her, almost as happy as being able to get with a Boulay.

"Nessie, would you like to dance?" I asked to spare Leah from more faked friendliness and to have an excuse to hold Nessie in my arms.

"I would love to!"

I loved the enthusiasm in her voice. She really wanted to dance with me. I was glad that I had asked Esme to teach me how to dance. Before, I was really only capable of the bare minimum, shuffling my feet in a slow circle… I would never be able to whirl and twirl with Nessie in an elaborate ballroom dance the way the Cullens did with their partners, but at least now I could dance in a manner that looked… experienced.

I noticed Alice and Jasper already spinning around on the polished floor. Of course, Alice would want to be here to survey her handiwork. Vampires didn't take very long to get ready. Neither Rosalie and Emmett, nor Bella and Edward had showed up. Emmett's absence was my requirement. The last thing I needed was him, poking fun at me and Nessie all night long. No doubt he would have some un-classy "ride the wolf" jokes. Edward and Bella's absence had been Nessie's requirement. I was thankful for that as I held Nessie's body close to mine.

Ness was warm in my arms as we spun slowly across the dance floor together. I looked down into her brown eyes and allowed myself to get lost in them. Suddenly an image flooded my mind, and I was _almost_ positive that it wasn't a fantasy conjured by _my_ mind. Before my eyes, the picture was wonderful: Nessie and me, still on the dance floor, still locked in each other's arms, but in the picture, my lips were on hers. But was it my fantasy, or hers?

Nessie gave a nervous giggle and blushed. Ah, so it was hers. I was very okay with that.

I bent my head so I could press my lips to Nessie's. Her lips were vampire lips, stone hard, but they were also warm, werewolf warm. They were soft as silk too. A pleasant fiery feeling started in my lips and slowly spread to the rest of my body. It kind of reminded me of the day I imprinted. It didn't burn me; instead it made my insides glow.

Our first kiss.

She pulled away far too soon. She looked up at me with the softest expression on her face.

"Jake," she whispered.

"Nessie," I whispered back.

She stroked my face, not showing me anything, just touching me. Yes. I was definitely glowing.

The tender moment was interrupted by her giggle of amusement.

"What?" I asked curiously.

She stilled her fingers on my cheek, letting a new image roll through me. I laughed too. The image was one of Leah who had finally taken the dance floor. Her arms were around the neck of a blonde, sweet faced junior - a head shorter than she was - who was wearing hilarious expression. It was as if he had picked the winning lotto numbers and he couldn't let himself believe his good luck. Leah, who couldn't possibly be as oblivious to his expression as she seemed, seemed to be leading their dance.

"Leah's not a wolf," Nessie whispered. "She's a fox!"

That's when I heard it. My whole body stiffened as I listened. Somewhere to the northwest, in the direction of Nessie's home, a howl rose into the air. I doubted any humans in the room could hear it over the sounds of the DJ, but Nessie seemed to hear it too. I glanced to where I had last seen Alice and Jasper. Jasper's body was curled around Alice, ready to defend her from a threat. Alice's face was confused as she searched for a future she couldn't see. They had heard it too. I looked toward Leah's stressed face. She was stepping away from her dance partner and his now confused and disappointed face. She looked to me.

Although her face was taking on that fierce determined expression that she was famous for, I could see the worry in her eyes. Worry because even with our human ears we recognized the tone of the howl. It was an alert. Even with our human ears we could recognize the voice.

"Who?" Nessie whispered as if I had been speaking my thoughts.

When I didn't answer right away she tugged on my arm. "Jake, what?"

"It's Seth," I answered slowly. "It's an alarm. Something's wrong."

Jasper and Alice were heading over to us, but my eyes were on Leah. She was already in motion heading for the exit. I was annoyed but not surprised. With her little brother in danger, the only place she would want to be would be between him and it. I motioned at Alice and Jasper that we should follow Leah. Alice nodded and redirected toward the exit.

* * *

><p><em>I know I said weekly postings but as it turns out, I'll have unexpected errands this coming monday, and I've got a new chapter of Over the Rainbow that neeeds editting.<em>

_I didn't think you'd mind getting the material sooner as opposed to later._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Driving our cars back home was frustrating when the five of us could run home faster, but it had to be done to remain inconspicuous. Our new town was about as woodsy as Forks, but someone would take notice of three cars spending the night in a school parking lot. As it was, we did speed.

When we pulled into the driveway, we could hear the tense voices coming from somewhere out behind the house. Leah left the car running as she leapt from it. She didn't hesitate. The second her feet touched the ground, there was a loud ripping sound. Crimson fabric became strewn across the lawn as Leah took off running on four legs.

I hesitated before phasing, thinking about Renesmee… If there was danger, shouldn't I take her away from here?

"Jake, go!" Nessie shouted at me.

Jasper and Alice would take care of Nessie.

I felt a burst of fire run up my spine and through my chest and listened as my own clothes bit the dust. As soon as I was in wolf form, I could hear the voices of my pack in my head. I could see the scene for myself before I even got there.

Seth was standing next to Edward and Bella, Embry was standing next to Rosalie and Emmett, with Carlisle and Esme at the center of the formation. Leah was just taking a position next to Seth. Across from the line of vampires and werewolves, there stood another line of creatures.

Black bears.

Eight of them.

_Jake, man, we got trouble!_ Embry shouted.

_Yeah, I can see that! What happened? _I shouted back.

I slid to a stop next to Embry.

_Locals,_ Embry answered.

He and Seth began recapping the situation for Leah and me. Seth had gone for a run, and stumbled across a strange scent. Curious, he had followed it further into the woods. That's when he ran into a strange formation of eight highly organized black bears.

Shape-shifters.

Seth had run, they were fast, very fast, but he had a good head start. Seth tried to lead them away from the Boulay residence and eventually tried to give them the slip. He was unsuccessful in both attempts. The bears had followed him in. Edward had met Seth in the yard to discuss the event when he had heard the eight minds approaching… fast. Seth sent up the alert.

The bears' hostility increased when they arrived and caught sight of the two werewolves and six vampires waiting for them.

"Jacob, their minds are like yours. They think _together,_" Edward stated.

I suppose he thought the information would be useful to me when the fighting started.

_I'm sorry Jacob, I thought I lost them; otherwise, I wouldn't have come back…_ Seth said.

_It happened Seth, don't apologize now, just deal with it._

The bears were shifting uncomfortably now. They had not expected two new arrivals. Scratch that, they had not been expecting five new arrivals. They were outnumbered. Jasper and Alice had just walked out the back door with Nessie following behind. The scales had tipped in our favor.

Thirteen to eight.

"Get back inside Renesmee! Now!" Edward snarled.

I snarled too, but it was in agreement.

"No dad!" She yelled stubbornly. Sometimes she was so like Bella.

"Nessie, remember what your uncles taught you?" Rosalie asked softly. There was deadly edge to her voice.

"Oh, I remember," Nessie answered sweetly.

I assumed Rosalie was referring to the fighting lessons Jasper and Emmett had given her much to Edward's disapproval. Emmett had wanted his niece to be able to defend herself. Jasper had wanted to see how Nessie's learning capabilities would affect her ability to fight. Nessie could fight well, but she still wasn't as strong or fast as a normal vampire. Her knowledge was more than basic, but not by much.

Was Blondie off her rocker? Was she really encouraging Nessie to fight? All that trouble to bring Renesmee into this world, was the Ice Queen really so ready to see her taken out of it?

I began working out the problem. We knew nothing about these creatures that would give us an advantage. Edward gave us an advantage now, but when the fighting started, he wouldn't have time to tell us what we needed to know. The only thing we knew was that their minds worked like ours. Thanks to Edward, that wasn't much of an advantage because he had given away that similarity to them as well.

Carlisle was at the heart of the formation because he was a leader. Esme was beside him because he was her soul mate; where else would she stand? Neither were extraordinary fighters. Alice would probably be blinded by the bears the same way she was blinded by us, and I didn't know if she could fight without the visions. Bella had continued with fighting lessons after the Volturi invasion in Forks, but did she know enough?

Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, and Edward were the best fighters without question.

As for us, we were all experienced fighters. Leah was fast and ferocious; she just had to keep moving. Seth was a natural. His first fight against a vampire had been a solo mission and he came out on top. Embry fought smart. I…

No. I had no experience. None of us were ready for this. We fought vampires. Had anyone in this group ever fought a shape shifter before?

Didn't matter. Can't think about it now.

So four vampires could definitely fight. All the wolves could fight. Eight on eight.

Carlisle and Esme could fight well enough to make a difference, so maybe our losses wouldn't be substantial. I shuddered at that thought. Who would we lose?

Bella and Alice would be wildcards. Could they match the bears if they had to?

Renesmee. The idea of her fighting sent a growl through my clenched teeth. I was sickened by the image in my head, one of them with her in its teeth. I'd kill them all to protect her if I had to.

We could see by the way the strangers adjusted their positions that they were strategizing too. Taking their time. Trying to find an advantage…

"Jasper," Carlisle said.

"On it," Jasper responded, no doubt trying to use his ability to work the situation to our advantage.

I was sort of surprised that Carlisle hadn't tried to diffuse the situation. That seemed to be his thing…

_Oh, he tried all right,_ Embry thought. I could see it in his head. The leader rearing up on its hind legs, letting out a vicious roar at Carlisle…

As my family crouched and tensed in their various defensive positions, hissing and growling warnings at the enemy clan that was preparing to fight us, something strange happened. Okay, scratch that. Something strange-_er_ happened.

Leah, who had been sizing up her targets, made eye contact with one of them. It was the bear on the very end, the one closest to her and Seth. She couldn't take her eyes off of his and vice versa. He stepped forward. A growl from the leader made him step back. Leah stepped forward.

_Leah, wait! Let them attack first,_ I ordered.

But a thought occurred to me and a feeling, and neither were mine. They were Leah's and they were overwhelming. She felt lighter than air, like she was floating, except she wasn't floating away. She felt like she would never need air again, not so long as she had _him_.

Leah. Imprinted.

And if my calculations were correct…

The stranger had imprinted too. On Leah.

What happened next was beyond bizarre.

There was a strange image from Leah's head; only it couldn't have been Leah's image, could it? The image was of a monstrous sized she-wolf, with a light grey coat like sterling silver, and a rather shocked expression in her black eyes. She was beautiful, so beautiful, so precious…

But the image couldn't have been Leah's… She could see many things with werewolf eyes, but without a mirror, she couldn't see herself. Every thought, whether sent in words or pictures had a unique voice. This voice was unfamiliar and male…

It took me a second to understand and another to believe. Leah was hearing _his_ thoughts. I was hearing the thoughts she heard. It took me another second to realize this would either be a monumental problem or a problem solver.

I could distinguish her thoughts from his. She was seeing him and he was beautiful too. Suddenly his dark coat was polished ebony; his dark eyes were warm as a summer sun…

The bears looked shocked and took a few steps back. Evidently, it was happening to them too.

I heard both Edward and Jasper gasp. Of course, they would realize at once what was going on. Edward could hear it. Jasper could feel it.

"What's going on? They're not retreating?" Emmett asked sounding unsure and a little disappointed.

Of course. He would be disappointed, wouldn't he? Tonight must seem like a dream come true for him. All those years of hunting grizzlies, wishing one of them would put up a real fight… Now he had eight bears standing before him. Bears that could test his skill…

"They don't know what to do. It's extraordinary," Edward answered.

"They are outnumbered. What's extraordinary about that?" Rosalie asked.

"Leah's imprinted Rose," Jasper stated flatly.

There were gasps all around.

"Leah now has a mind link with her imprint… She can hear him and through her, the rest of the pack can hear him, and vice versa. The pack, _our_ pack, their minds are still protected from the others, as theirs are."

Edward's sentence was a little convoluted, but I was sure everyone understood what he was saying. It gave me inspiration though. If I could speak my thoughts to Sam, could I do the same with their leader?

"Try Jacob," Edward said behind me.

I walked slowly forward, toward the leader, wagging my tail in a friendly way. He stepped forward, hesitated, and took another two steps and stopped. I stopped too, leaving a small but respectable distance between the two of us.

_Can you understand me?_ I asked.

He looked surprised, but he regained his composure quickly.

_Yes,_ he replied.

_My name is Jacob Black. This is my pack. This is my family. We are no threat to you; we just want to live in peace._

I hoped I was being diplomatic enough.

The bear snorted.

_We come in peace? That's original. Vampires are not family, Jacob Black, if you really believe that, you should be destroyed along with them,_ he spoke with an accent I didn't recognize.

_Would you really cause him_ - I shot a glance at the bear eyeing Leah - _that kind of pain?_

The bear didn't answer.

Another flash of inspiration. _Maybe you should meet_ my _imprint._

_What's the point?_ The bear growled.

I didn't answer; I just looked over to Edward.

He sighed, but didn't protest.

"Renesmee," he said softly. "Come up here with Jake please."

I didn't look back, but suddenly I could feel her hand on my shoulder, her fingers twisting in my fur. It suddenly felt very wrong to have her this close to danger; I didn't want her within a mile of this confrontation. What had I been thinking?

_What is she?_ The bear asked before I could put my body between him and her.

_Half vampire. Half human. Mine. This is Renesmee, she's my imprint._ I glanced at Edward. _That's her father._ I glanced at Bella. _That's her mother._

_You lie!_ The bear snapped. _Both are vampires and neither can conceive!_

_Bella wasn't a vampire when she conceived. She was human and in love with a vampire who loved her back. When the birth of their child left Bella dying Edward did what any man in love would do. He saved her. Renesmee, for that matter, is not the only one of her kind. A few years ago we met another like her, who informed us of his sisters. Their mothers did not survive,_ I explained.

I hesitated and then sent him three memories of Bella's pregnancy. The first was Bella sleeping on a couch with Edward burning next to her. The second was Bella laying on a gurney, covered in blood, a beautiful infant with alert brown eyes lying in her arms. The third was of Edward pumping her heart for her, after it had given out, trying to force the venom to flow through her veins.

I waited, watching his reaction. He was looking at Bella now, probably comparing the image of the broken human mother with the strong young vampire, trying to detect a lie. He looked back at Renesmee. I wondered what he was seeing.

_I believe you._ The bear finally answered. _My name is Tom Scott._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_Can you phase? Carlisle_ - I glanced toward Carlisle who was watching our exchange - _would probably like to speak with you. He leads the coven._

Tom glanced toward Carlisle then his eyes narrowed at me. _I speak to you. Not demons._

"Edward, what's going on?" Carlisle asked.

"They've decided to hear us out. Kaleb's given them no choice."

"Who?"

"Leah's imprint."

_Why have you come here?_ Tom asked, calling my attention back to him.

_Necessity. These vampires don't live like most. They hunt animals not humans. They interact with humans from time to time, especially Carlisle. He's a doctor. They had to move because people back home were starting to realize they weren't aging. We came here because the forest allows them to continue their lifestyle. I came because, well…_ I looked pointedly a Nessie.

_Animals?_

I got the feeling Tom Scott didn't believe the claim. So I picked out a hunting trip I had taken with Edward and Nessie. Edward had taken a mountain lion that was hunting a deer while Nessie had taken the mountain lion's deer. I sent the image to Tom, who seemed a little disgruntled by the image of Edward's hands twisting the life out of the big cat. The other bears shifted uneasily as they saw the image in their leader's head.

_Doctor?_

I thought about all the house calls he made for me the year I was busted up by newborn vampires. I thought about the various times Carlisle treated Bella when she was human.

_Jacob, get something in return! You're giving away a lot of info! _Embry warned.

_I don't think we have a choice Embry,_ I answered.

I didn't want this to come to a fight. I didn't know what these strangers were capable of and I didn't want to find out. We could probably take them out if worst came to worst, but at what cost? Renesmee? Her beautiful body broken and her heart's fluttering beat forever silent? Leah? What pain would be inflicted on her if something were to happen to this Kaleb? Could she survive it and would she want to?

We needed to make them trust us; the only way to do that was to tell them what they wanted to know.

_And you? What do you eat?_ Tom asked.

That question surprised me. What does he think I eat? Behind me, Edward took in a sharp breathe as he heard something I missed, but he didn't tell me what.

_Food. Steak, grilled cheese, hot dogs… Sometimes if I go hunting with Nessie, I will take down a deer or something and eat raw…_ I raised a wolfy eyebrow at him. _Why you asking?_

He was silent for a moment and then he answered, _Four children between the ages of four and ten have been found in the woods… Dead. Medical Examiner says the throats have been slashed and the bodies bled dry. The M.E. seems to think they were killed somewhere other than where they were found because there was no blood on the scene. But if the killer wasn't human, that might not necessarily be true…_ Tom glanced at the vampires around me.

_We don't hunt humans,_ I said, trying to be firm.

"Why wasn't it in the papers? Or on the news?" Edward spoke up.

_How does he keep doing that?_ Tom asked, his fur bristling.

_He's a mind reader. It's annoying as hell but you get used to it._

The bear considered that for a moment and, without looking at Edward, he answered to me.

_It wasn't in the paper or the news because there are too many questions unanswered. The cops can't release a story like this without having a few answers to give… The panic that would cause…_

_What do you mean, there are no answers?_

_The children haven't been identified yet. They weren't local kids. There's no pattern to the victims aside from age. No witnesses, no suspects, no evidence… No survivors. When we caught that one there_ - he nodded toward Seth - _we didn't know what he was, just that wolves aren't that big. Not to mention the smell of vampire clung to him…_

_I'm sorry about the misunderstanding…_ I hesitated and then added, _We moved in here, not knowing the territory was spoken for… Can we stay?_

Tom was silent for a long time. I could feel Seth and Embry getting edgy. They had heard my question, but not his reply. Leah was beyond noticing anything at the moment.

_We'll be keeping our eyes on you. All of you. But… If you_ **really** _mean no harm, I see no problem…_

I noticed how he emphasized the word _really_, like he was expecting us to do something underhanded. I suppose I couldn't blame him for the paranoia.

He huffed and the other seven bears looked to him. He glared around at the collection of creatures convened in the dark backyard then took a step back. Six of the seven slowly began to retreat toward the woods. Tom glanced at the one who hadn't moved.

Kaleb.

Kaleb was still staring at Leah. I could feel the tenor of his thoughts in Leah's head. Kaleb wasn't going anywhere. Tom growled, but he knew as well as I did that an Alpha order couldn't compete with the call of an imprint. He shrugged his broad shoulders and loped into the trees where his pack waited, leaving Kaleb behind.

I could hear Nessie breathe a little easier at the sight of retreat and her voice entered my mind.

_Are we safe?_ she asked.

I nodded my head then glanced at Kaleb. He had ripped his gaze from Leah and was staring nervously at Edward who let out a chuckle.

"Yes, we keep some extra on hand for the wolves," Edward said and glanced at Alice. "Alice? Get our new friend some pants, would you? And Leah needs something too…"

_We all need something,_ Embry corrected.

_Not me!_ Seth pronounced cheerily. _I remembered to remove them first!_

Edward corrected himself even though Alice was already gone. "Alice make that four pairs of pants and something for Leah." She would hear him.

Edward turned to Carlisle. "Carlisle, when everyone is clothed there is a lot to discuss…"

Edward wouldn't answer Carlisle's questions until everyone was in human form, which I appreciated. I also appreciated him allowing me to start the discussion about the strange conversation Tom and I had had. He interrupted often to fill in the blanks, little things I'd missed. To my surprise, I didn't miss much.

The bears really were on red alert due to the discovery of the dead children. They really did think it was a vampire problem and they had no idea where the children came from. The reason why they had all the details of the case when it hadn't been released to the public was that Tom was a cop. He was not a detective assigned to the case but he had access.

Billy - Emmett had been dispatched to pick Billy up from home - was brought to help shed some light on our new neighbors. He had no light to shed. He was just as baffled as the rest of us. Now he and Carlisle were talking to Kaleb, who clearly just wanted them to leave him in peace with Leah.

Kaleb was nineteen. Unlike us, he wasn't freakishly tall. Above average height maybe, but not freakish height. He was almost as tall as Leah. Though he was more muscular than most werewolves were, burlier than Quil, it could have been coincidence. However, it was apparent right away that he was a native too. His jet-black hair and russet colored skin gave that away almost immediately. Rosalie had been rude enough to voice the question, "What? Are all Indians freaks of nature?" To which Kaleb just shrugged.

I got the feeling he was a man of few words.

Kaleb was of Algonquin heritage. There was no reservation in the area, supposedly his ancestors migrated here long ago and some never left.

"What triggers the transformation?" Billy was asking now.

"How do you mean?" Kaleb asked politely.

"With Quileutes, vampires trigger the transformation. The gene is passed down from generation to generation but usually it lies dormant. However if a coven of vampires were to make their home several miles away from our tribal lands -" he paused to shoot Carlisle a grin "- the gene will become active. It usually strikes boys between the ages of fifteen and twenty, but unfortunately for younger kids, the werewolf population will grow if the vampire population grows." Billy hesitated then added, "Leah, as it turns out, is the first female shape-shifter in _our_ history books."

Did I detect a small hint of fatherly pride in his voice?

"Well, that's just a theory," Carlisle added. "Proximity to vampires could have nothing at all to do with the change." He smiled back at Billy.

I swear, the two of them will be announcing their engagement any day now.

They both turned to look at Kaleb.

"I don't know what triggers it, really, although it's like you say. Males, usually twenty and fifteen. Tom is twenty-two. Unfortunately he'll have to retire from the force in a couple more years, that is, if he doesn't start aging soon." Kaleb hesitated. "I don't think it is vampires, not for us anyways, although we are more than capable of dispatching them. According to my family's histories, there have always been Skinwalkers, as long as there have been people. As far as I know none have ever been female…" His eyes went back to Leah's face.

"Do you heal? Fast, I mean… We heal fast. I could be stabbed right now and the damage would be repaired in seconds…" I asked.

"Well, we heal at a normal rate, but then we aren't easily injured. Our skin is very tough, our bones very hard. We aren't as hard as vampires, but hard enough…"

That's interesting. He looks normal, but then so do I.

"And your pack? That is the other… Skinwalkers? Do you share a mind link? Does the Alpha have the ability to lay down a law that you can't disobey?" Carlisle asked eagerly.

Honestly, he got so excited over the idea of learning something new. It was like watching a fat kid find out he inherited his own candy store.

"It is as you say… Although, we call ourselves a kinship, not a pack."

"Carlisle?" Leah interrupted quietly.

My jaw just about detached itself. Leah rarely spoke directly to the vampires and when she did, her normal way to address them was not by first name. She used "Cullen" a lot, but I've also heard "Hey you" and "You there" and once I even heard her use "Hey what's-your-face" as if she didn't know the name of whom she was speaking to. Whatever she had to ask, must be important.

"Yes, Leah?" Carlisle smiled kindly at her.

She hesitated and said, "I… I thought… I couldn't imprint… What does this mean for me? I mean, for us?"

Ah, of course she'd want to ask that. Her biggest fear: Being a genetic dead end. I had to admit I was curious too.

"You mean in regards to having a family?" Carlisle asked.

I was sure at some point over the years Edward had given that snippet of info to Carlisle; it was something interesting for Carlisle to speculate over. I was sure Leah had considered that fact too. Carlisle didn't wait for Leah to confirm.

"Well, I have had some thoughts on that Leah. In mythology, wolves are often depicted as being extreme mother figures. The story of Romulus and Remus would be the most basic example. Did it ever occur to you that maybe your body has frozen in a fertile state as opposed to infertile? I think, the bigger question is, if you start a family, what will you have? Bear or wolf?"

Leah looked relieved at his theory and then surprised at the new question presented to her. I was surprised too. I hadn't even considered yet what kind of creature might be born to the two of them. Maybe that ancient vampire was right. We do breed mutants.

Nessie was sitting warm on my lap; my arms wrapped around her. She was now in sweatpants and t-shirt much to Alice's disgust. I was surprised that Edward hadn't given me crap about it yet, me holding her. But maybe he didn't want to be outwardly rude to me in front of Nessie or maybe the other things going on were much more consuming. Maybe Jasper was helping me out and I should send him a gift basket. What do you give a vampire for a gift basket? Twenty packets of O positive?

Nessie's head kept slumping back an inch then jerking up right. It was late.

"Nessie, maybe you should go up to bed…" I whispered in her ear.

"Yeah, right, like I'm going to crash now and miss the good stuff?" she murmured back to me.

"The good stuff?" I whispered back.

"We haven't talked about the murders yet," she mumbled.

"There isn't much to talk about Nessie," Edward answered. "Kaleb's _kinship _is probably right. It sounds like vampire activity. Alice? Have you seen…?"

"No, and I've been looking too! Either the vampire isn't making a lot of decisions or the Skinwalkers are too closely tied to its future." Her face puckered up into a frown and she groaned.

Poor, unfortunate Alice. Surrounded by blind spots.

"I think the best thing we can do is stay on the lookout and stay out of the way of Kaleb's brothers," Edward gave his opinion and it surprised me a little. I didn't argue with it though. I didn't want to risk another confrontation. I looked at Nessie again. Some things are too important to risk.

"I agree," Edward said quietly.

* * *

><p><strong>NOTE:<strong>

I did do a small amount of research on Native Americans in Maine and there really is an Algonquin population there, but I could not find a reservation in the area. It is possible I just didn't research thoroughly enough, but for the sake of this story, I'm sticking with the no reservation in the area. I do not know if Algonquins have legends of skinwalkers or shapeshifters, but I know enough about mythology to know many Native Tribes did believe in shapeshifters, and that bears were often subjects in Native American legends.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As far as dreams go, this one rocks. That's probably not saying much seeing how Nessie was staring in it. Any dream that Nessie stars in rocks.

Nessie was sitting on the edge of my bed in her pajamas with her beautiful hair tangled and loose. She was so lovely. I doubted anyone in the world could look half as good in pink flannel pjs with ducky print. I doubted anyone else in the world could look so utterly spectacular with bed head. And in this dream, she was here with me. She was absentmindedly watching her big toe trace patterns in the carpet. I watched it too.

She looked at me and smiled. "Oh! You're awake!"

I am?

"I hope I didn't wake you…" she trailed off and frowned. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I'm not looking at you like anything," I denied as I quickly recovered from my confusion. "What are you doing here?"

I sat up, taking care to keep the comforter over me. I wasn't entirely sure Edward would appreciate me showing off my boxers.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"It's noon. I am here because I escaped." Nessie winked at me.

"Escaped?" I repeated.

"Yeah, I had the feeling when I finally climbed into bed that if mom had her way, after last night's events I mean, I wouldn't see the outside world for a long time."

"Yeah, that sounds like Bella."

"Anyways, I decided a preemptive strike was in order." She paused and then added, "Of course, it wasn't 'till I was outside that I realized it had started snowing…"

"Snowing?" I looked out the window for the first time and was surprised to see the soft white flakes drifting down. "How did you avoid Alice and Edward?"

"I concentrated very hard on how it felt when you kissed me. That was enough to keep dad from paying too much attention to what I was thinking. Alice was… with Jasper."

I cringed at the thought of Edward knowing about our kiss. Why the hell did she have to choose _that?_ I'm sure there were plenty of thoughts that would have made Edward equally uncomfortable, right?

"Alice was with Jasper? Alice is always with Jasper, what does that have to do with anything?"

Nessie laughed. "That's not exactly what I meant…" She touched my cheek.

In my head, I could see Jasper tugging Alice out the door. A few minutes later, I could hear… Oh.

My cheeks heated up slightly.

Why now? It's not exactly like now is the best timing all things considered…

Nessie guessed what I was thinking. "Think it was Jasper's idea. After feeling the intensity of a newly imprinted werewolf and werebear, I think he felt inspired to… Anyways…"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Werebear? Is that what we are calling them now?"

"I invented the term all on my lonesome. Impressive, right?"

"I think you need to stop hanging out with Seth!"

She laughed too.

Leah was currently with Kaleb, but I can't say if she is currently _with_ Kaleb in the same sense that Alice is with Jasper. Kaleb wanted her to meet his parents so I would guess not. Leah and Kaleb brought with their newfound love a set of complications. The mind link was only convenient for the two of them. What if we needed to keep a secret? Anything Leah hears in our pack mind, he will hear too, and by extension so will his kinship. Luckily, that problem works both ways… And what if Tom Scott decides to chase the vampires off his land? Leah couldn't just disband from our pack and I doubted Kaleb could disband from his; would our family be torn apart?

"Jacob…" Nessie whispered abruptly, all humor gone.

"What? What's wrong?"

"What happened last night… I mean the bears not the kiss… What they said about those kids… It's horrible."

"I know," I whispered back. It was horrible. I don't know why the idea of a vampire killing children is so much more horrible than the idea of a vampire killing adults but… The anger clouded my vision.

"Jake, you're trembling," Nessie pointed out.

She leaned her warm body into mine and I wrapped my arms around her pulling her close.

"I'm alright…"

"Jake? I think you should offer that Tom Scott some help. I doubt he'd accept vampire assistance, but he might accept yours. It'd be like a show of goodwill or something."

She yawned.

"Maybe you're right… Nessie? Did you sleep at all?"

"Mmm-hmm… When I got here you were out like a light so I slept on the floor."

"Oh, Ness! You should have woken me! I woulda given you the bed…"

Nessie looked like she was going to argue when the ringing phone interrupted us. I heard footsteps downstairs as someone ran to catch it.

"Hello?" Embry answered.

There was a moment of silence while the caller responded, during which Nessie mouthed, "Probably Dad again."

"Again?" I mouthed back.

"Alright, alright!" Embry shouted into the receiver. "I think they're awake, I heard talking-"

A second of silence.

"No! That is not what I meant at all!" Embry shouted again.

Embry's feet climbing the stairs.

"Well, what are you yelling at me for? It's not like this was my idea-" Embry was sounding awfully defensive.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Nessie? Come get the phone, I know you guys are awake… Edward is taking pissed off to new heights."

Nessie sighed and opened the door. Embry gave her an apologetic look as he handed her the phone. She came back to sit on the bed again.

"Dad?"

The phone was close enough now that I could hear Edward. "Nessie? Where have you been! Your mother and I have been worried sick! No note, no call… All we knew was that Emmett had said he heard you sneaking out the window!"

"Calm down Dad, you found me. I've been at Jake's all night, perfectly safe…"

"What exactly have you and Jake been doing all night?" Edward was no longer shouting but I could still hear the anger in his implication.

"Nothing! Sleeping! I just figured I'd get out of the house before Mom tried to slap an ankle monitor on me…"

There was no answer; instead the sounds of a scuffle on the other end of the line could be heard.

"Give it to me-" Bella was saying.

"No, in a minute-" Edward interrupted.

"-you can have it back when you calm-" Bella continued.

"I am plenty calm-" Edward hissed.

There was a clacking sound, much like the sound of stone hands battling for the phone, and then…

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen!" Bella always used the name Nessie was born with when she was angry. No time for aliases when you're upset.

"Mom-" Nessie tried to begin explaining but Bella and her questions…

"What were you thinking?" She was a little shrill.

Nessie looked oddly uncomfortable. "I just wanted to talk with Jake!"

"That couldn't wait until morning?" Less shrill.

"It was morning Mom, but no it couldn't wait." She looked back at her toes.

"Do you mind telling me what was so important?"

"I… I wanted… I needed to see him…" Nessie's cheeks turned pink as she muttered this.

There was a moment of silence as Bella considered this. I considered it too. Nessie ditched her family to see me? She _needed_ to see me? I probably like that more than I should.

"Come. Home. Put Jacob on please."

Nessie handed the phone to me.

I took a deep breath preparing myself for anything as I wasn't sure what Bella felt about me at the moment.

"Bella?"

"Jacob! When did she get there? Is she really alright?"

"She's fine Bells, honest. I don't know when she got here, she didn't wake me. When I woke up she was here. Nessie did get some sleep so she must have been here awhile…"

"Could you send her home please?"

"Fine, you want me to escort her?" I asked.

"Someone had better…" her voice faded for a second and she continued, "Maybe Embry or Seth?"

I laughed. "Sure, sure… Hey, Bells, is Carlisle around?"

"Yes, wait a minute…"

I heard calling for Carlisle away from the receiver. I took advantage of the lack of conversation on the phone.

"Nessie? Your parents want you home. Maybe you should…" I wanted to bite my tongue off. I wanted her to stay here with me.

"Fine," Nessie stood looking a little disgruntled.

"Make sure you grab Em or Seth on the way out."

"Fine," she said again already at the door.

She hesitated and turned to face me. She stared with the softest expression in her eyes; the way she looked at me after we had kissed.

"I love you," she whispered and closed the door behind her.

"Jacob?" Carlisle called my name.

I couldn't answer. It wasn't the first time Nessie had said those three words to me. But I could tell right away the meaning had changed. She spoke those words with a fervor that excited my every cell…

"Jacob?" Carlisle called again.

I answered and told him about what Nessie had suggested. It really was a good idea and I wanted to make sure he agreed. He did agree and I was glad because truth be told I would have done it without his consent. I would pretty much do anything that Nessie asked me to do at this point.

I was owned.

* * *

><p><em>Sorry last weeks update never made an appearance. But, hey, think about it. You'll have two update this week instead of one ;-)<em>


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I dressed quickly and went down to the kitchen to make myself a late breakfast just as Billy rolled himself out of his bedroom in his nightshirt.

"Late night, eh, son?" He spoke through a yawn.

"Late night? Are you just getting up old man? I've been awake for ages," I teased.

He chuckled. "Sure, sure, but if you been up for ages, what's with the egg omelet?"

"You know I like to eat hearty, Dad. It's the incredible edible egg!"

"Got plans today?" Billy asked as I cranked the heat on the burner as high as it could go to speed the cooking process along.

"I was going to talk to Kaleb, see if he can put me in touch with Tom. I thought we could offer some help with his vampire problem."

"Good idea," Billy agreed. After a moment he added, "That Kaleb seems like a good man. I'm happy for Leah."

"Yeah," I agreed. I gestured to the griddle to ask Billy if he wanted me to throw on another omelet, but he shook his head. I tossed mine on a plate and sat down at the table.

"It's good that she found someone…" I said through a mouthful of hot egg and melted cheese.

I was glad Leah had found someone. Although I had always tried not to think about it in wolf form (for obvious reasons) I had always worried a bit. I knew from her thoughts how hard it was for her to watch the people around her fall in love with their perfect matches, while she remained alone. Ever since the day I made her my second in command, insuring her place in my pack as long as she wanted it, she had slowly left her bitterness behind her. But the hurt remained because watching everyone else find happiness, while fearing she might never do the same, was slowly breaking her, killing her. In so many real ways, Leah had truly become a sister to me and to be honest, I couldn't imagine anyone who deserved happiness more than she did. This Kaleb could mend her. He could make her happy. Maybe the complications he brought with him would be worth the struggle.

Suddenly, I was eager to phase. I wanted to know what Leah's thoughts sounded like now. I gobbled down the rest of my egg under Billy questioning eye. I dumped my dishes in the sink and grabbed the milk.

"Leah would kill you if she saw you doing that," Billy informed me as I chugged straight from the jug.

I pulled the milk away and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

"Is Leah here?" I asked as I put the milk back.

"My son. The animal," Billy grumbled as I headed out the door.

The snow had stopped. I noted the six inches of white around my ankles as I yanked my pants off, rolled them up, and tied them to my leg. I took a few steps on all fours and then stopped as something occurred to me. I turned and looked back. Yup. There were my footprints, plain as day, human and wolf. Maine winters got a lot of snow. I hope that didn't turn out to be a problem.

_Yeah,_ Embry was laughing in my head, _I had the same problem when I left out the backdoor. I hope Billy doesn't get any visitors today!_ He altered his course to intercept me.

I cringed as I thought about that. That would be just what we needed… somebody to have evidence.

_I'll give you evidence!_ Seth exclaimed.

I looked through his eyes and suddenly the world tipped over. What? No, Seth had tipped over. He held his legs in awkward angles and lay still for a moment. With a grunt he threw his weight upright and, on his toes, he leapt nimbly away from where he had fallen.

He turned to admire his handiwork. Where Seth had lay, his body heat melted away the snow, creating the unmistakable muddy profile of a running wolf.

_Seth!_ I shouted.

_Nice!_ Embry shouted.

Seth left the snow wolf and ran to meet us.

Embry and I met Seth in a small clearing where he was already sitting.

_So what are we doing today?_ Seth was excited; he was enjoying the snow.

_Where's Leah?_ I asked, ignoring the question.

_Still with Kaleb, right?_ Embry answered rhetorically.

_I thought we should volunteer to help Tom Scott with the kid killing parasite. I was hoping Leah was in wolf form so we could contact her Kaleb._

_Why don't we bypass Leah altogether if she's busy at the moment?_ Embry asked eager at the prospect of taking down a vampire. He wanted to skip Kaleb and go straight for Tom. Track his scent.

_Because Embry, I don't want him to think we are hunting or following or stalking. I want to stay on friendly terms with them. They're our family now, remember?_

_Fine, send up a howl. Maybe she'll phase._

I hesitated and then decided that it wasn't a bad idea all things considered. I threw my head back to howl when I heard a strange noise. A crack like breaking glass. Embry and I looked at Seth just as he dropped into the ground, nothing visible but his head.

It took us half a second longer than it took Seth to realize what had happened. Not a clearing. A _pond._

_COLD!_ Seth screeched.

Embry started laughing and he leapt to the tree line.

It was too late for me. Seth started thrashing and the rest of the ice gave out.

Damn. It _was_ cold. My legs tangled in Seth's as he started dragging himself for the bank. He tripped and his head disappeared from sight. Water was splashing everywhere as we struggled to free ourselves from each other and the icy water. Embry was still howling with laughter, but he had retreated a little further into the trees to avoid the spray.

Seth clawed his way out as I gathered my legs under myself and pushed off from the soggy pond floor. The water pulled at me but I manage to land on dry land. Seth was shaking himself out. I did the same.

_You idiot!_ I snapped.

_Hey, it could happen to anyone!_ he yelled back.

I leapt for him.

We were off, Seth ahead of me, zigzagging through the trees. The feeling of the cold winter air flowing through my saturated fur was slightly invigorating and, as Seth looped back, I began to enjoy myself. I pushed myself faster, aware of the snow spraying out from my furious paws. The cool air was burning my lungs but it wasn't totally unpleasant either. I had drawn even with Seth now and was preparing to shoulder check him into the nearest tree.

Then Seth and I saw Embry, laughing it up. The way he was standing, perfectly perpendicular to us, made him a great target. Seth seemed to be thinking along the same line as me. Embry heard what we were going to do to him a second too late. Seth and I ploughed head first into his ribs, both ducking our heads and thrusting forward and upward. Embry let out a yowl as we sent him flying through the air. He landed upside down with a splash.

_Run!_ Seth thought.

I didn't need telling twice.

When Embry finally caught up with us, we circled back for home. The water was cold and had given him the incredible urge to take a pee. Apparently, he was above outdoor urination. Personally, I didn't see what the big deal was it's not like Leah was here.

_Well, some of us aren't total barbarians,_ Embry growled.

_Or maybe some of us have shy bladders…_ Seth muttered.

I laughed at this.

We stopped at the edge of the woods to admire the two sets of tracks leading away from the house, but they were gone. Someone had shoveled a couple of neat paths from the front and back doors right up to the tree line where the trails disappeared. We phased back and pulled our pants on before heading in to investigate.

There was an old Ford pickup parked in the driveway and, all though we didn't recognize it, we knew at once who it belonged to. The breeze whipped the scent toward us and I identified Leah and Kaleb immediately.

"We found them," Embry chuckled. "Aren't you glad I'm… _above outdoor urination_?" He thought he was so slick throwing my thoughts back at me until-

"That's real nice talk Embry," Leah voice drifted sarcastically from the kitchen.

Embry's cheeks darkened as he opened the door for us.

"Why are your pants wet?" Billy asked wheeling himself forward a little.

* * *

><p><em>a little good natured werewolf fun before the drama kicks in...<em>

_PS, _

_I do try to respond to all reviews, but I have a short memory. __So my apologies if I forgot someone, I didn't mean any meaness. I hope you continue to enjoy this story and I hope I hear from you soon._


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Seth's hairy butt burned a hole in the ice," Embry told Billy.

Billy lifted an eyebrow and said, "Never mind. I don't wanna know."

I looked at Leah and Kaleb sitting at the kitchen table. Leah had her hand intertwined in his and on her face was unmistakable happiness. Kaleb's expression mirrored hers and there was a protective aspect to the way his body positioned itself toward her. It kind of reminded me of the way Edward used to watch Bella; like Kaleb was waiting for someone to chuck a grenade at Leah or something.

Leah didn't _need_ his protection, but something about the way she positioned her body led me to believe that she might _want_ it. Like maybe she was tired of protecting herself… I'd never seen Leah look vulnerable before. It was almost scary.

"Did you guys clear the paths?" I asked as Embry made his way to the toilet.

"Yes, nice going... Maybe next time we can put up a pulsing neon sign that says 'Werewolf Den Here'," Leah answered rolling her eyes. Even though her sarcasm was real, there was no anger or antagonism in her words.

"I don't know Leah," said Seth while heading up to his room to get dry pants, "I think that might be a little extreme…"

"Jacob?" Kaleb called my attention away from Seth.

"Yes?" I answered.

"Leah tells me your pack has experience with fighting vampires. Past kinships have successfully fought and killed vampires, but _ours_ is lacking hands on experience. Tom wants to know whether or not you would be willing to assist us…"

I chuckled. "Kaleb, we were just on our way to find you and offer you our help… If Tom will accept our help, we'd love too."

"Seriously," said Embry, returning. "We haven't had any decent action in forever."

"Also," I added, "the Boulays, our vampire family, would probably be more than happy to offer their help too. Nobody knows how a vampire thinks better than a vampire."

"Tom will accept your help, but not theirs." Kaleb looked like he was worried he had offended me.

"I figured it was like that," I reassured him. "I just thought I'd extend the offer, just in case."

"Well, once you've dried up a bit," Kaleb nodded to my wet pants, "I'll take you and your pack up to his house to work out the details."

I glanced down at myself, almost surprised to find that I was still wet. I left the kitchen, passing Seth on the stairs as I went to my room.

It was kind of strange for me living in such a big house. With my house in La Push, you only needed one hand to count the number of rooms and there had been no upstairs. When Esme and Carlisle left Washington early so they could renovate a new home, I hadn't a clue that they were renovating one for my family as well. I had to hand it to Esme, she _knows_ people. The house is perfect for a family of werewolves.

Most of the floors are linoleum or hard wood, easily cleanable, except for Leah's room, which is carpeted. The rooms are spacious and equipped with sturdy furniture to limit damage in the event of an accidental phase. The colors were warm and rich as opposed to all the pale shades Esme uses in her own home.

Esme had knocked out a couple of walls on the first floor, so that the kitchen and dining room became one and the same. A very handy modification considering that at mealtimes, four unusually large teenagers and a man in a wheelchair would convene and the combination room was roomy enough to allow it. Of course, Billy's room was located downstairs and conveniently near both the kitchen and the downstairs bathroom. There were no loveseats in our living room, instead there was a sectional couch that lined all of one wall and formed an L by invading another. The second floor was mostly bedrooms, mine, Seth's and Embry's, but there was another bathroom upstairs as well. The third floor was never meant to be anything more than an oversized attic, but Esme managed to transform that too. Leah had her bedroom up there and her own private bathroom.

I knew why the house was such a surprise though. Billy would never have accepted something so big and expensive; he would have pitched a fit… Leah would be loathe to accept such a gift from vampires and would have refused to come altogether… The house had to be presented when it was too late to object. After Billy calmed down, he had agreed that the house _was_ perfect, and even Leah swallowed her pride enough to thank Esme for the private bathroom.

I grabbed a pair of jeans and yanked them on, then debated about whether or not I should wear a top. If we were going to spend a lot of time in wolf form, I wouldn't need one… But if we weren't phasing today, would it be rude to show up shirtless? God, I'm becoming such a girl… debating about clothes… I shook my head in disgust as I pulled out a hoodie and yanked it on over my head.

* * *

><p>We pulled into the narrow drive about a half hour later and got out of the car. Embry, Seth and I had taken the Rabbit and followed Leah and Kaleb in his truck. I saw curtains shift aside in a front window as an unfamiliar face peered out for a brief second. There would be seven unfamiliar faces when we stepped inside.<p>

The house itself was more reasonably sized than mine and was built to resemble a log cabin. Except for the windows. The windows all had pale yellow shutters, which gave the place a happy look. The shutters seemed almost a necessary decoration as the woods encroached on an almost none existent yard casting the house in shadow.

We followed Kaleb inside and found ourselves in a kind of sitting room.

Kaleb's size was not a coincidence. All of his brothers were every bit as wide as him. I also noticed that not all of his brothers shared his dark coloring. Three of them were a fairer shade, with just a hint of the color I had been expecting. The answer to this occurred to me almost instantly. Of course, with the Quileutes we lived on a reservation, Quileutes could very easily marry other Quileutes. It hadn't occurred to me that the lack of their people would result in biracial marriages.

As I glanced from face to face, it occurred to me I had no idea which one was Tom. I stole a glance at Leah and gathered from her expression that she was meeting these men for the first time too.

Kaleb cleared his throat. "Everyone, this is Leah Clearwater." He looked at her proudly before continuing, "This is Jacob Black, the Alpha, Seth, Leah's younger brother, and Embry Call." He hesitated and then added, "Leah is Jacob's second." Again he looked at her proudly.

I understood his pride well enough. I had had to fight mine away when I introduced Tom and Renesmee to each other.

Kaleb then introduced the others, "Leah, Jacob, Seth, Embry… This is Tom Scott, Mark Bellavance, Mike Swift, Evan and Lucas Moran, Terry Browning, and Josh Potter." Kaleb gestured to each person as he said their names.

Tom Scott stood up as his name was spoken. He was shorter than Kaleb and his face was stern looking despite the quiet smile on his face. Mark Bellavance was one of the light-skinned boys; he looked to be about sixteen and had a suspicious expression on his face as he evaluated us. Mike Swift, easily the widest of them all, nodded hello when his name was spoken but otherwise kept his face blank. Evan and Lucas Moran, the other two with lighter skin were unmistakably twins, and both broke out into smiles of welcome simultaneously. They seemed to be the youngest of the shape shifters present. Terry Browning frowned at us as his name was spoken, he had the lightest build, but the frown quickly evaporated. Josh Potter's eyes seemed a little critical, but he wasn't looking at us, he was looking at Kaleb.

"Josh is Tom's second," Kaleb told me.

Tom walked forward to meet me, his hand outstretched. I took his hand in mine and I could see what Kaleb meant about having tough skin. His skin had the feel of fine leather, supple but unyielding.

"It's nice to see you again," I said as he released my hand.

"Thank you for coming," he replied. "Please, take a seat. We have some things to discuss."

Seth sat down next to the twins while Embry and I sat across from them. Leah looked quite cozy on Kaleb's lap, but I could tell by the alert expression on her face that she was back on her game.

"Before we get down to business, I think there are other issues that must be addressed first-"

"Like the stiffs you brought to town!" Mark interrupted angrily.

"Mark!" Tom rebuffed.

Mark let out a huff and crossed his arms across his chest.

"He's right of course," Tom said, looking back to me. "There is the issue of the vampires you travel with. I understand Jacob that your imprint is more or less one of them and you can't just leave them behind. Neither can Leah leave you behind because you are her family and her leader. And Kaleb can't leave Leah because of their new tie. We aren't accustomed to making exceptions for blood drinkers…"

"I understand your worry because before I found Renesmee it was my worry too. The Boulay family exists to preserve human life, not to take it. The longer I know them the more I see that they are as good as any human we protect and better than some."

"What assurances do I have that they won't… _slip_?"

"My assurance." I hesitated and added, "Unless by assurance you mean proof then I have nothing. How can I prove something like that? My advice to you would be to get to know them and make the call yourself…"

"Get to know them? Get to know monsters?" Terry interrupted and gave me a very condescending look.

Embry snorted. "Jake, what's that saying, something about a pot and a kettle?"

"Embry, cool it," I muttered, but he had a point. Eight guys who could turn into black bears had no right to start name calling.

"Look," I said. "This isn't a problem that is going to be solved today. I suggest we move on to the more immediate threat. The vampire that's been killing kids…?"

Tom reached for a folder on the coffee table and passed it to me. "The victims. I managed to get a hold of the crime scene photos and duplicate the ones that were most useful."

I hesitated. I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted to see the four children for myself; I'd rather just take his word for it. But everyone was watching me and I was not about to show any sign of weakness. I took a deep breath, prepared myself for the worst, and opened the folder.

My breath caught in my throat.

The first picture was of a little girl with blonde hair straight as a ruler's edge and powder blue eyes. She would have been a beautiful child, except for the facts like her face frozen in a mask of terror, her skin completely colorless, and the wound on her neck. I turned the page quickly, wanting to get this over with as fast as possible.

The next picture was a close up of her right hand. A strange symbol had been cut in to her palm.

"What's this?" I asked, confused.

Tom said grimly, "No clue. Never seen it before, but it must mean something to whatever killed her…"

Leah snapped her fingers to get my attention. "Let me see," she said, holding out her hand.

I passed her the picture of the strange symbol and saw that the picture underneath was a close up of the girl's neck.

I froze.

Through the horror, I felt something else. Something nagging at me, something important. I stared at the disturbing image until I pinpointed what it was that was bothering me… besides the obvious.

"Tom, are you sure it's a vampire?"

"I wasn't at the crime scenes because I'm not working the case, but I was in the morgue when they brought the first and fourth body in… The smell of vampire was on both. Why?"

"I've seen vampire bites before…"

"And?"

"And they don't look like this."

* * *

><p><em>If I don't hear from you before then, Happy Thanksgiving to my friends in the U.S.<em>


	8. Chapter 8

_First I'd like to thank you for being the most patient readers I've ever had...I promised weekly updates and my professors are making me eat my words._

_Second, I want to warn you: I will briefly switch to someone else's view point about half way in. Don't panic._

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 8<span>

Seth and Leah were too young to know firsthand what a _lethal_ vampire bite looked like. What Renesmee did to me during her childhood were really just playful nips. Embry was there when Victoria and Laurent were leaving a trail of carnage in their wake. He looked at the pictures and agreed with me; a vampire may have been involved, it may have even been responsible for the murders, but the neck wounds were not inflicted by its teeth.

The marks left behind by a feeding vampire were… severe. Caught up in the bloodlust, vampires tend to tear while they drink. It's not a pretty sight and usually, if you can stomach a closer look, you can see where the teeth initially touched down. But the wounds on the children were very clean. Then of course, there was the symbol cut into the hands… Now I'm not a cop, but that seems a kind of human thing to do. Why would a vampire do it?

I still couldn't get the faces out of my head though. The first victim found, the beautiful blonde girl. The second victim, a tan skinned cherub faced boy, clearly the youngest of the victims. The third was another girl, her olive skin disturbingly chalky. She had loose curls reminiscent of my Nessie. The fourth was another boy, the oldest, with auburn hair and freckles across his heart shaped face. All had their faces frozen in that same mask of terror though. All were nameless strangers with families that must be going berserk with worry.

I was on my way to see Nessie. I needed my everything. She would make it better, at least for a short while. I wouldn't tell her details, she didn't need this in her head; it was bad enough it was in mine. I needed to hold her in my arms, I needed to know she was safe, I needed to soothe the ache that flared in my chest every time I left her side even for the shortest of moments.

I pulled into the driveway and breathed a sigh of relief. I walked up to the door and I could hear Nessie laughing; suddenly my chest felt as happy as she sounded. Opening the door my stomach rumbled as I caught a whiff of popcorn. Then, oddly enough, I heard a chainsaw followed by Emmett yelling, "Cut her head off!"

"Ness?" I called, kicking off my shoes as I went. "Emmett?"

I followed the noise to the living room where the lights were off. Emmett was sitting in an armchair and Nessie was curled up on the couch with the popcorn bowl. She twisted in her seat to grin at me over the back of the couch. A bloodcurdling shriek, a maniacal laugh, and the revving of a chainsaw called her attention back to the TV.

"What are you guys watching?" I asked, as a woman got sliced in half by a masked man with a chainsaw.

"I don't know, something on FearNet. Uncle Emmett…?"

"Oh fine," Emmett grumbled, but as he threw a balled up twenty at her, he had laughter on his face.

"_FearNet_?" What the hell was FearNet?

"Mm-hmm… A channel completely devoted to showing horror movies," she twisted back to smile at me again and added, "Come on Jake, sit, it's getting good. I'm already up a twenty…"

"What are you betting on?"

I took a seat beside her and focused on her face. Her cheeks, rosy with humor, her perfect alabaster skin, her breathtaking smile that made my heart flutter, and her brown eyes twinkling in the light from the television… eyes that made my fluttering heart melt. She was so perfect, so beautiful, so mine. It was hard to be upset about anything in her presence. She switched her feet around so that she was still curled up, but instead of leaning into the arm of the couch, she was now leaning into me. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, memorizing the sweetest of scents. All these things that made up the woman I love.

Nessie didn't answer; instead, she asked her own question. "How did it go?"

I suppose I was hoping for too much when I hoped her sharp eyes wouldn't notice the grimace that flickered across my face. I tried to smother it quickly but I wasn't quick enough.

The traces of humor vanished from her face and she frowned. "What? What's wrong Jake?"

My mind began involuntarily flipping through the images, forever etched in my memory, and I struggled to find just how much to tell her.

"Tom snagged some crime scene photos is all… Can we watch something else?" I asked as a nerd ran screaming across the screen with psycho-chainsaw-guy chasing him down.

"Sure, Jake, it's time for Family Guy anyway." She grabbed the remote and flipped to a new channel.

"Hey," Emmett interjected, "I need to win my twenty back!"

Nessie giggled. "Okay, what is Stewie plotting tonight? World domination? Or Lois's murder?"

"Don't let your mom catch you gambling, Nessie," I whispered in her ear.

"World domination." Emmett said, zoning into the cartoon like a kid on Sunday morning.

My lips, still at Nessie's ear when Emmett had spoken, were suddenly finding themselves on her neck. Her perfect skin was warm and smooth and when she didn't pull away my heart beat faster. Her heart began to speed too, which may have been what alerted Emmett to our activities.

"Don't make me get the garden hose, mutt," Emmett said raising an eyebrow. "I'm a babysitter not a chaperone. Take her for a _ride_ on someone else's watch." He laughed at his own joke.

I pulled my lips away from Nessie's neck and sighed. I should have seen this coming. When Nessie was little, I never gave it a second thought, letting her ride on my back; it made her so happy. When she got older, it was something we both enjoyed and I never thought to put a stop to it. Why should I have? I loved having her with me, hearing her laughter ring out over the wind, feeling her slender fingers twisting in my fur… Trust in Emmett to make something awkward.

"So where is everyone?" I asked to distract myself from the perfect grace of Nessie's slender neck.

"Group hunting trip. Safety in numbers…" Emmett answered, cocking his head at the television as Brian went running down the street.

* * *

><p><strong>Simon <strong>_**(The Villain) **_**POV**

I sat down on the cage that was no more than an indoor dog kennel, ignoring the girl whimpering inside. Children. Stupid and weak, children are so unaware of their vulnerability until it's too late. That is until they are screaming for their mamas to come and save their pathetic little lives. They consume themselves with the most ridiculous fears except for those that really matter.

In this respect, however it is most convenient. My gift is fear. I can sense what others fear; I can make their fears come to life. Of course, like so many of our gifts, it is just an illusion. An illusion I can use however I want. I can use it to create adrenaline sweetened blood or simply for the fun of torture. I can use it to control too. I can make myself look like the protector, the only one who can protect said victim from their fear. Children. So willing to trust their protectors.

This girl for instance, was terrified of clowns. _Clowns._ Afraid of others of her species who dress in makeup for the amusement of others. Utterly ridiculous. However, the fear was powerful enough that when she saw the clowns coming for her she was willing to take my advice and hide in the safest place for her. The trunk of my car. Technically, it was the trunk of _someone's_ car. She followed me from the trunk willingly, convinced I was the only one who could protect her. When she began to wise up, to fear me I changed the illusion. I removed my physical self from the picture and added an illusion of me. She ran from me completely unaware she was running with me.

I had to be careful though. Fear was deadly. If I over do it, the victim might die before the death is needed. Humans, so delicate. Their hearts just give out. Vampires can be incapacitated by fear, almost indefinitely, but it is much harder to do. Their hearts have already stopped beating, so the fear has to be strong enough to break their minds.

Madelyn was more human than me, but more monster than most. She was a very rare specimen of her species. I met her when I was hunting, she was my intended target, but I could sense her uniqueness and found myself drawn to it. She was trying to make herself more powerful, invincible even, without the use of vampire venom and she was using children to do it. Blood of the innocent. But not just any child would do, they had each been chosen for specific reasons, reasons that I made no attempt to understand.

I allowed myself to be used by her; I can admit that, I am a hammer striking heavy where swung. But I don't mind. She is by far the most interesting companion I have ever had, from the metronome thumping of her black heart to the cleverness she uses as she practices her talents.

"How's our little friend doing?" she asked, poking her head around the door.

"Oh, just a little terrified," I answered with a chuckle. I banged my calf into the bars of the cage with a loud bang. I did it gently but I still managed to bend the metal. The little girl gave a little shriek.

"Remember," Madelyn began.

"Don't feed, this one's blood is spoken for," I finished for her.

Madelyn nodded and disappeared from sight. It is almost funny. The thing Madelyn fears most is me. She's afraid of the day I tire of her company or the tasks she asks of me. She fears this because she has not yet found the child that will make her a vampire's equal. She needn't worry… yet.

Honestly, I was having too much fun. I didn't get to use my gift as often as I would like. Occasionally I would use it when I went hunting, but people screamed when they were afraid. Screaming attracts unwanted attention. Now I could use it as much as I liked, and put it to good use when capturing Madelyn's victims.

Dumping the bodies was turning out to be interesting too. Another rare creature lives in the area. A group of humans born with the ability to shift form. Made to protect human life from other monsters, monsters like Madelyn and me. It was fun watching them scratch their furry little heads, totally clueless. They can't catch me even though they are trying. They aren't much smarter than the creature they imitate.

* * *

><p><strong>Return to Jacob <strong>_**(The Hero) **_**POV**

Edward let out a none too subtle hiss behind me.

"Jesus Christ, I'm barely touching her!" I snapped at him.

That wasn't exactly true, but I wasn't touching her inappropriately. My arm was still wrapped around her shoulders and she had fallen asleep with her head against my chest, but so what? It's not as if my hands were located somewhere he wouldn't want them to be.

"It's not that," Edward said irritably. "Go back to that thought."

"Back to what?" I asked. Did he want my hands located somewhere inappropriate?

"No!" He growled. "I mean the thought you had before I hissed. The hands. What were on their hands?"

I pulled up the memories of the hands with the unknown symbol on them.

Edward stiffened for an instant and recognition flitted across his face to be replaced with anger.

"What?" I asked sitting up a little. "Have you seen it before?"

He nodded his head and called, "Carlisle!"

It took a half a second for Carlisle to dart into the room. His face was confused as he took in Edward's expression.

"What?" he asked.

Edward gave a one word response.

"Witch."

* * *

><p><em>I'd like to take this moment to address a concern, that may or may not bother you. I will never give you one scene from multiple veiw-points. I understand a lot of authors do it, and no disrespect to them, but it gets tedious. Tedious to read and tedious to write. I only give other view points because there are some events happening in this story, that Jacob, our main nararator could not possibly know, but you should know.<em>


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Which what?" Carlisle asked.

I thought it was a good question, but it just seemed to irritate Edward more.

"No, _witch,_ W-I-T-C-H. There is a witch involved, Carlisle."

For a second, Carlisle's bemused expression froze on his face. Then he seemed to understand what Edward was saying because his eyes widened with something that looked like shock.

"Impossible-" Carlisle began but Edward cut him short.

"They're rare but not nonexistent," said Edward, shooting Carlisle a meaningful look. "You _know_ they exist."

Bella drifted into the room, having overheard the conversation, and looked at me expectantly. Like I could really enlighten her. I was still waiting for one of them to enlighten me.

"How do you know?" Carlisle asked his expression growing more concerned with each moment.

"Jacob," Edward inclined his head to where I sat - growing more confused by the minute - and said, "was shown pictures of the victims; they all had a rune drawn into their skin on their right hands." Edward lifted an eyebrow at Carlisle, like the doctor was missing something very obvious.

Carlisle didn't take long to catch up. "Like the rune tattooed on the twins?"

Edward nodded.

There was a moment of loaded silence as they stared at each other.

Then Bella spoke up. "I don't understand. A witch? And what twins? What's going on?"

Edward took a deep breath and turned to look at her. "Do you remember what Stefan and Vladimir used to call Jane and Alec?"

Bella frowned and answered, "The witch twins? So?"

Edward looked almost patronizing now. I was surprisingly infuriated by this, mainly because I had no more idea what he was getting at than she did. I'd like to smack that look right off his face. We can't all be know-it-alls.

Edward glanced at me, shook his head, but softened his expression when he answered Bella. "The Volturi created Jane and Alec, knowing they would be gifted. Sometimes with humans, and this is very, _very_ rare mind you, they get an ability that presents itself without the help of a vampire transformation. A true witch is able to recognize the ability and utilize it. Not all witches are evil, but I think the body count involved does imply black magic of some sort."

As Bella thought over this, something came back to me, a distant memory. Sitting on the beach in La Push, enjoying a few stolen moments with a still human Bella. What is it she said to me that day? _"Edward's never in my head, he only wishes he was…"_ That was it. Bella's shielding ability was in working order when she was human.

I looked to Edward who was looking at me again, listening to my thoughts.

"Does that make Bella a witch?" I asked him, knowing he had heard me.

Edward hesitated and glanced at Bella whose eyes were starting to bug a little.

He looked back at me. "I think Aro suspected that. I think that's why he took such an interest in her. But of course neither Bella nor I were ever aware that it was an ability, and neither of us ever thought to test it until she was a vampire."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Bella snapped.

Edward looked a little surprised. "It wasn't important."

This is just like that Children of the Moon crap, all over again. Why does he get to decide what's important? Is there going to be a War of the Worlds thing, where the aliens come to destroy the planet, and he is just going to go: _"Oh, and by the way…"_ That's right, kids. Don't worry about your neighbors being vaporized by the tripods, it's not that important…

"This changes everything," said Carlisle, "If it's a human involved…"

"This changes nothing," I interrupted, the pictures still fresh in my mind. "Whoever it is, they have no more right to be killing kids than the vampire does. The witch needs to be stopped one way or another." I hesitated and added, "Besides, whoever he or she is, they are getting help from a vampire. Tom was positive, the victims, and the places where they were found, were tainted with the scent of a vampire."

"Could you kill a human Jacob?" Carlisle asked.

I cringed at the thought but there was no doubt in my answer. "I don't want to; it certainly wouldn't be pleasant but… If there was no other way, if this was the only way to stop the killings… I'd do it."

Carlisle studied me for a moment with a thoughtful expression on his face. I shifted uncomfortably under his scrutiny. Did killing a murderer make me a murderer in his eyes? I wouldn't kill the witch if I could find another option, but if worst came to worst… What other choice was there?

Finally, Carlisle shrugged. "Regardless, we need to tell Alice to try looking for a witch instead of a vampire. She might have more luck…"

"I'm looking for a _what_?" Alice's voice chirped from outside.

* * *

><p><strong>Renesmee POV<strong>

I was supposed to be studying. Winter vacation was next week and this week was midterm exams. But honestly, what's the point in studying? My mind is every bit as infallible as my mom and dad's. I know everything the teachers taught me this semester. In most of my classes, I knew more than the teachers did, but I suppose that had a lot to do with my family. Uncle Jasper was a good history tutor due to his stint in the Confederate army. My mom was good with English; she loved to read. Grampa was amazing with science. Gramma was best at math. Dad pretty much spoke every conceivable language…

So even though my biology textbook was stretched out before me, I thought about Jacob. I thought about the way it felt two nights ago when, for the first time, his lips met mine. I'd been replaying that moment over and over in my head, unwilling to forget the feelings that had coursed through my body, desperate to hold onto them until I could repeat the experience.

I love Jacob, but my love for him is something I've never questioned before. I think I knew, long before I could walk, that I belonged only to him. The only question that remained now, was did he belong to me. Jacob had watched me grow from infant to adult, singing lullabies to me, hunting with me, and watching over me. I had to admit I was terrified that watching me grow might mean he could never return my feelings.

But that kiss. That kiss! I was almost positive he belonged to me. He didn't hesitate to touch his lips to mine when he knew I wanted him to do so. His warm soft lips moving with mine, they seemed to convey every emotion I hadn't yet expressed to him. It lit my heart on fire but in an immensely good kind of way. His warm arms encircling my waist, pulling me closer. It was like magic. But was he mine?

A cleared throat called my attention back to the present. I looked up expecting to see my disgruntled dad, but it was Leah. She was looking awkward and out of place. Something important seemed to be on her mind but I could tell by the silence she wasn't sure she wanted to voice it.

"Hey, Leah," I said enthusiastically, glad for the distraction.

Leah put on a good show, with her Miss Tough Thing attitude but I knew it was just a show. She might not like us very much, she might trust us even less, but I knew deep down we were family. She would protect us, no longer out of obligation to Jacob, but out of obligation to herself. Whether she liked it or not, we were hers. Whether she liked it or not she was one of us.

"Renesmee… is… is Esme around?" Leah asked.

Her broken speech surprised me. Normally she had nothing but confidence.

"Yes, one moment." I guessed by the expectant look on Leah's face that she was expecting me to go get Gramma. I was mature for my age. Not that mature.

"Gramma! Leah wants to talk to you!" I called out.

Leah snorted. Whether it was with good humor or bad I couldn't tell.

"I could have done that myself," Leah said with a roll of her eyes.

"Yes, but you didn't," I replied smiling back at her.

Gramma suddenly appeared behind Leah.

"Hello, Leah. It's good to see you." Gramma was always so sincere and warm toward everybody. Sometimes I wondered how so much love and compassion could fit into one soul.

Leah turned slowly to face Esme. She seemed reluctant to answer.

Gramma smiled welcomingly and asked, "There's something you needed?"

"Yes… I hate to ask you for favors… with my past behavior toward you… Well, you have no reason to grant one…" Leah seemed to struggle for words.

Now I knew her reason for discomfort. She needed a favor from us… Then my mouth popped open in shock. Leah had come as close to an apology to us as she would probably ever get.

"Not at all dear, name it." It was Gramma nature to forgive and forget. She did not disappoint.

"Well, Kaleb… He's already asked to marry me… I know it's quick, but with imprinting and all there is very little reason to drag it out…" Leah paused again.

Esme nodded patiently for her to continue.

"Well, I'm going to be busy hunting for vampires and witches and I've never really been… Well, I might need some help with… wedding plans." Leah looked down at her feet.

"Uh-oh," I muttered guessing what would come next.

"I have a rough idea of what I want, but-" Leah was cut short.

"A wedding!" Alice shrieked dashing into the room.

Leah's shocked expression was priceless as Alice gave her a big hug.

"W-w-what?" Leah stuttered.

"Alright, here's what we are going to do. First, it's going to have to be an indoor wedding; otherwise, we won't be able to attend. We need to find a suitable church, something with a lot of stained glass that'll toss some colors about the room, and of course, so people won't think twice about our unusual skin. Now, depending on how long your engagement is, depends on the dress you'll wear. If it has to be soon, then we will have to make do with something off the rack but if it's going to be awhile, I'm sure I can find a designer- Oooo! I know! I'll just make you one myself! I'll have to take measurements of course, but I think the skirt should have a little poof to it because you're so tall if we go with a slenderer dress-"

"Alice!" Leah yelled.

Alice fell silent.

"I asked Esme for help," Leah said pointedly.

"Uh-oh," I muttered again.

Alice's face fell.

"Leah…" Alice pleaded.

I knew Auntie Alice well enough to know that ninety nine point nine percent of the pain in her voice was faked. But I knew Leah too. Leah would not be bullied or guilted into anything.

"No, Alice. I want the wedding to be _mine._ Not _yours._ Nobody skinny-dips in a shark tank and I certainly won't be married at a circus." Leah expression was impassive.

Alice seemed to realize the tactics that were so successful with my mom would be ineffectual on Leah. So instead, she fell to her knees, clasped her hand together as if in prayer, and looked up at Leah.

"I _can_ behave. I _will_ behave! Let me help, Leah, I promise I won't throw you to the sharks. Whatever you want. I won't make any arrangements with out your say so, I _swear._ I'll just be on in an advisory capacity if it makes you happy. Just let me help because I can be of help. The dress! You do need a dress, right? It would be my honor to construct the dress of your dreams! Leah, this is your special day, I promise I won't ruin it for you!" Alice looked up at Leah in earnest, dropping her hurt act.

Leah stared right back at Alice, thinking things through. Probably debating whether or not Alice was capable of self-control. Personally, I'd have to see it to believe it, but then again, letting me wear my hair down on the night of the formal had been big of my Aunt.

"Alright, listen good, you little freak," Leah was practically growling. "One toe out of line, just one, and I swear Jasper will be planting roses over your ashes. Do you understand me?"

"I understand! I really do! Whatever you want!" Alice leapt to her feet and lunged forward as if to hug Leah again.

Leah put her hands up to stop Alice. "Let's can the physical affection for now."

Leah turned her attention to Gramma again. "Esme, would you help me?"

"Of course I will Leah. When would you like to get started?"

"Well, there's no time tonight, I'm supposed to be getting ready for my first patrol, and I have school still during days but, Jake says he can spare me on the weekend. He wants us to get used to running with our newly extended family."

"The weekend it is." Esme agreed.

"Leah, you'll have to describe your dream dress to me as I can't see it…"

Leah silenced Alice with a raised hand. "On the weekend. I have to go. Esme, thank you. Alice, behave."

After Leah left, I realized she had provided me with more to think about. Weddings. Marriage. Engagements. Kaleb's known Leah for what, all of two seconds and he was all ready to put a ring on her finger? Jacob. I wanted to marry him. I've known him all my life; we have no secrets. Why hasn't he asked me to be his bride? Was I just imagining that he told me with his kiss he loved me back?

I slammed my book shut. Inter-monster relations be damned. I want an answer. Now.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

**(Jacob POV)**

_Jacob Black._

I flinched when I heard Tom's voice in my head. This was really going to take some getting used to.

_What's up?_ I asked.

His voice responded immediately. _Evan found your imprint. She's tracking you._

_What? Why?_

What would Nessie be doing all the way out here? Scenarios began flickering through my head one after another, each as terrible as the next.

_Jacob, quit with the doomsday outlooks, you're freakin' me out!_ Embry's voice cut in.

Seth agreed, _Yeah, Jake, you don't know that anything's wrong._

_I don't know why she's looking for you,_ Tom said, _but she looks upset._

A picture flooded my brain, taken from Evan's head and sent by Tom. Renesmee looking flustered as Evan stepped into her path, then slightly annoyed as she began explaining that she needed to find me, and as Evan sent out the request she looked flustered again.

_Jacob? She got tired of waiting. She just left Evan and is traveling fast. Shouldn't take her long…_

_Jacob, you might as well phase and talk to her. The quicker you sort this out…_ Leah spoke up.

_Tom, I'm switching forms._

_Affirmative._

I phased quickly and pulled on my sweatpants. I closed my eyes, listening for Nessie's whisper quiet footsteps on the snowy ground, and waited anxiously for her to arrive. I heard her coming from the west, at a dead run, following my trail exactly. I turned to the west and opened my eyes. It wasn't late, barely evening, but the stars were already glittering down through the treetops and the snow shimmered pale blue from the evening sky.

Then there she was; standing pale and beautiful against the backdrop of maples and pines that glistened with frost. My smile faded as I noticed the agitated look on her face. She took a deep breath, like she was preparing for battle or something, and marched over to me.

"Nessie? What's wrong?" I asked reaching for her.

She ignored my outstretched arms and showed no sign of acknowledging them anytime soon. That stung a little. I dropped my arms.

"Leah came by the house today. Do you know why?" Nessie asked, giving me a caustic glare I didn't understand.

"Uh… Yeah, she was thinking about it earlier… She asked Esme to help with wedding plans, right?"

"Right. Kaleb only just met Leah and already they're engaged." Nessie nodded her head once.

I couldn't see where she was trying to lead me.

"Ness… What's wrong?" I asked a little nervous now.

Instead of answering Nessie asked, "How come you haven't asked _me_ to marry _you?_"

My mouth popped open in shock. I tried to remember how my jaw functioned, which muscles would close it, but I couldn't. I looked like a moron. The most beautiful creature in the world was talking about a desire to marry me and all I could do was stand here silently, looking like a moron.

Think, Jake, _think._ Say something. Say anything. Close your mouth. Kiss hers. Stop looking like a moron!

Nessie put me out of my misery by looking at the ground.

The relief was only temporary because as she stared down, she said quietly, "Don't you want to marry me?" She sucked in a sharp breath and quieter still she asked, "Don't you love me?"

The pain in her voice as she asked those two very surprising questions, cut through my heart like a knife. It woke me up at least.

"Nessie, I…" I closed my mouth and organized my thoughts. I _what_?

When I spoke again it was with a level of sincerity I had never used before.

"Nessie, of course I love you! How can you even ask that?" How could she ask that, didn't she understand? _I have to make her understand._ "Nessie, you are my _world._ Things like oxygen, water, food, gravity, the sun… They became meaningless the moment you entered my life. All I need to survive is you. You are my world. How can I not love you? How can I not want to marry you?"

Nessie looked up at me, her face confused and her eyes pleading.

"Then why haven't you asked?" she whispered.

Good question. I meant what I said. I couldn't survive without her, so why didn't I do the one thing that would ensure her constant presence in my life? I suppose fear was a good an explanation as any.

"I was afraid. Afraid to pressure you if you weren't ready. Afraid to be rejected if you didn't feel the same. Do you feel the same?"

Nessie's eye widened. "Would I be here if I didn't?"

So I took her face in my hands. For the second time my lips pressed themselves to hers. We could have stood like that for hours before she finally pulled away.

"You know," Nessie said playful now. "You still haven't asked me…"

She arched an eyebrow… waiting.

I almost did it right there, but as I opened my mouth to say the words that would change my life forever an image popped into my head. Edward wide eyed and cheek twitching.

"Nessie… Do you mind waiting just a little bit longer? There are a couple of things I wanna do first."

She pouted drawing my eyes back to her warm lips.

"What?" she asked.

"Well, I want to get you a ring for starters…"

"And?"

"I want to ask your dad for… well, you know… your hand?" I didn't mean it to come out like a question but it did.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "You're afraid of my dad." It wasn't a question. At least she was grinning now.

"I most certainly am not," I growled with faux anger.

She laughed. "I guess it would be kind of nice to have something sparkly on my finger to show off to all my friends."

Nessie reached her hands up and touched my face.

_Soon?_ She asked.

"Soon." I agreed.

"You should go home," I told her, taking a step away.

She rolled her eyes and let her hands travel with me. In her head was an image of her and Rosalie at the mall. Nessie wasn't going home. She was going shopping.

"Better take Alice too or you'll never hear the end of it," I told her imagining Alice's reaction to Nessie going on a shopping trip without her.

* * *

><p><em>Is something wrong?<em> Seth asked the second I was back in wolf form.

_Nope! Guess what?_ I could feel my excitement growing; it was like the butterflies escaped my stomach and were fluttering around in my lungs. They could see what had happened in my head but I told them anyway. _I'm engaged to be engaged!_

_That's great Jake!_ Seth chimed.

_Hell, yeah! Bachelor party!_ Embry cheered.

_Stealing my thunder are we?_ Leah complained, but she couldn't lie to me now. The sarcasm was just part of who she was. She was happy for me.

_Don't worry, I promise you can tie the knot first._ I told her. It was true. I still had to buy a ring. Not to mention breaking the news to Edward. I cringed internally at the thought. After Edward puts me in a full body cast I'll need a few days to heal.

_Embry!_ Leah was shouting, _If there is a stripper at that party I swear I'll call down to La Push and tell your mom!_

I was surprised to see Embry was planning my bachelor party in his head, stripper included. He cussed at Leah's declaration. We might be on the other side of the country now, but his mom was still a force he didn't want to reckon with.

_Hey, you don't know you get to plan the bachelor party anyway, the best man does that. I don't remember Jacob naming you best man._ Seth thought smugly.

Embry tripped over his feet at that.

_What? Jacob, I'm best man, right?_ He asked, trying to find his stride again.

_Umm…_ Actually, I hadn't given the issue that much thought. Who would I ask to stand with me?

_Don't pressure him. Pay attention and run your patrol,_ Leah growled.

_Thanks, Leah._

I was grateful for her interference. I had barely decided on proposing and never mind the wedding.

_Tom?_ I called.

_Yes?_ he answered.

_Just letting you know I'm back._

_Is there a problem?_

_Everything's perfect._

And it was perfect. I was going to ask the love of my life to spend forever with me. She was going to say yes. I was going to marry the girl of my dreams. My gravity. My angel. My Nessie.

_Everyone, hold up!_ Embry's voice broke the relative silence about twenty minutes later. There was no mistaking the urgency in his voice.

_What is it?_ I demanded.

_Vampire. Fresh trail._

I reached into Embry's mind and wrinkled my nose. Yup. Definitely vampire.

_What do you want me to do Jacob?_

_Wait. I'll come to you. Don't follow it alone,_ I ordered while changing directions.

He slammed on the breaks.

After all these years it was still a strange feeling having my orders followed. My advice taken. Being the leader. Even stranger that I still hadn't had to use the irrefutable double timbre of the Alpha. They followed me because they wanted to.

_Tom?_ I didn't wait for a response this time. _Embry caught a fresh trail from a vampire, I'm heading over to help track it._

_I'm sending two of mine. Mike and Terry are in that area. I'll ask that they follow your lead._

I would have responded, but I was surprised as a sound rose over the tree tops. It was like howl, but not. It was more like the canine equivalent to a scream. At the exact same time that the scream began, there came an indescribable terror. As fear clutched itself around my heart like a fist, my legs gave out and I took a header into a tree.

Someone in the distance was screaming, "Nooooo! Pleeease!" over and over again.

The fear was intense, I couldn't think around it. But I had to think around it, someone needed help. But I couldn't. I could only twirl around, left to right, right to left, looking for the threat. There had to be a threat. Why else would I be terrified? There had to be some monster lurking nearby that my subconscious had noticed before I could. I couldn't see it though. I could only feel the terror that held me tighter and tighter.

I wasn't the only one. Seth flattened himself to the ground and cowered with his eyes shut tight. Leah had her back pressed up against a tree her hackles raised as she snarled ferociously. And Embry…

Embry.

It was Embry's fear I was feeling. He was the one screaming. Now that I could see this factor, his mind became clearer than mine.

He was on his back in the dark, looking up at light trickling in through cracks in the ceiling. There was a strange thudding sound and the amount of visible light shrunk. Then I realized the screams were inside my head. Embry was screaming.

_HEEELP! SOMEONE! ANYONE! PLEASE! GOD HELP MEEEE!_

Another thud and more light disappeared.

_STOP! STOP! I'M BEGGING! PLEEEEASE! I CAN'T BREATHE!_

I pulled myself from Embry's terror at that. Embry couldn't breathe. Embry was being murdered. Embry needed help.

_Leah! Seth! Snap out of it! We have to help him!_ I screeched at them.

Leah was already in motion, but Seth stayed cowering on the ground.

_Seth! Get the fuck up!_ I yelled as my legs swallowed the ground.

_Buried alive,_ Seth moaned.

Leah was shouting too. _Seth! You have to move! Embry needs help!_

_LET ME OUT OF HEEEEERE! LET ME OOOUT! JAAACOB! LEEEAH!_

_We're coming Embry!_ Leah and I called out to him simultaneously.

_PLEEEASE! I DON'T WANT TO DIE LIKE THIS! GOD, HELP ME, SOMEONE! SETH HELP!_

Seth snapped out of his borrowed fear when Embry cried out his name.

The three of us sped through the woods growing closer to each other as we drew nearer to where Embry was being buried alive.

_I CAN'T BREathe! Help!_

Embry's voice was starting to fade.

Then it was gone altogether.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

We couldn't hear Embry. Just like that.

We couldn't hear Embry. Like flipping off a light switch.

We couldn't hear Embry. His mind was gone.

Adrenaline pulsed through me, making me hyperaware of everything.

Leah was streaking through the woods like lightening, leaving Seth and me behind as she headed toward our fallen brother. Seth's kindhearted nature was viciously turning against him, he was dwelling on the knowledge he had let fear hold him up, dwelling on the fear that his hesitation could cost Embry his life, and clinging desperately to the optimism that encouraged his hope, his hope that Embry still lived. My muscles burned as I pushed myself faster than they wanted to move me; the wind roared in my ears bringing with it a million voices.

The voice of the snow crunching and whooshing beneath my feet. The voice of branches creaking in the breeze. The voice of car engines on a nearby road. The voice of two bears racing to join us. The voice of Seth and Leah's footfalls, I hadn't realized until this moment how close they were to me. We must be nearing Embry.

Tom's voice was echoing around my head but I couldn't spare the concentration to answer him. Kaleb, who was late to the party, was suddenly in Leah's head, but he wasn't searching for my consciousness so I ignored his. The only mind I cared about contacting now was the one that may have left us forever.

Suddenly we were there. The smell of vampire burned my nose. The two bears were there too. Mike and Terry had heard Embry's scream of terror break the night sky, they had heard everything Kaleb learned from Leah, and so they knew something was up. Which was good because I couldn't tell them in this form?

Then I saw him. Embry, human on the ground. His chest heaving. Then I heard him. His heart was pounding. He was whimpering in the back of his throat. He was alive. The relief coursed through me followed quickly by my brain's rebooting.

_Seth! Stay with Embry! Leah! You and I are going to track the bloodsucker! Tom Scott! Answer me!_

_I'm here, Jacob. What's going on?_

_I'm not sure but I'd bet anything that that vampire knows. I need you to have Mike and Terry running a perimeter around the area. Start tight but make it bigger with each revolution! That vampire was here for a reason, I want that reason found!_

_Consider it done. My kinship has been alerted. We are coming to help. We are fanning out; if the creature is still in the area, we'll lessen its escape routes._

_Got it._

Leah and I sped through the dark following the scent left behind by the leech, leaving no detail unnoticed.

* * *

><p><strong>(Simon POV)<strong>

"What happened?" Madelyn shrieked as she gunned the car down the highway.

"Relax, Maddie," I told her with a sigh and an eye roll. Humans. They overreact about everything. "Just a glitch with the ditch. I got away clean."

"The bears?" she asked, calming down.

"Friends of theirs…" I said absently, staring out the window.

"Big friends…" I muttered.

I knew the bears were out tonight, looking for me, when I went to dump the body. They were easily avoidable. But that wolf… Where did the wolf come from? I'd never seen him before. He was just as human as the rest of them though, and just as easily scared. I never had the chance to test my power on the bear people, so I was surprised when the wolf transformed back into a human. Fear can force the transformation.

I wanted to kill him. I was so close. The dark-skinned teen was lying naked and vulnerable in the snow. Utterly defenseless. I would not have fed. His blood smelled foul even in his human form. It would have been more fun than anything else. Then I had heard the others in the distance. I recognized two sets of pounding bear paws and three sets of longer strides that moved just as swift but made lighter impact on the ground. I assumed those three unfamiliar sets of footfalls were wolf-boy's family. If I stayed to finish the job, the five of them would have caught me easy. I had wanted to kill him. I had had to leave him. Such a shame.

The bear people looked like your run-of-the-mill black bear. Supernaturally fast, and probably supernaturally strong, but they looked normal. The wolf people looked like the real thing except that they were _huge_. What genetic quirk allowed them to grow? Shape shifters. I'll never understand it. What genetic quirk allowed a human to be part beast?

_Who cares,_ I thought to myself, grinning. Things just got a whole lot more interesting tonight. _New players_.

"Well, never mind them. I found the one I need. We need to plan and prepare." Madelyn gave a chuckle. "A year of searching for the right one and having to make due with only second-bests, then suddenly there it is! The kid walks right by me! Like a gift from the gods."

This news surprised me. "Are you sure?"

Madelyn had been looking for a long time, well, a long time for a human. I was a little disappointed that her dream was coming true. If she were right that would mean one more scare and snare and then I'd have to go back to hunting the old-fashioned way.

Madelyn smiled, victorious. "Positive." Her smile faded to a frown. "Feed before you go after this one. I want you in peak form. No mistakes."

Mistakes? Whom does she think she is talking to? A newborn? Or a child like the ones she has chased?

The indignant growl burst between my clenched teeth. She flinched and the car swerved a little. I heard her heartbeat speed and I wondered if she was thinking about how easily I could stop it from beating altogether. I certainly was.

"Plan and prepare," she muttered to herself now, "plan and prepare, plan and prepare…" Her heart slowed as she chanted quietly over and over.

* * *

><p><strong>(Renesmee POV)<strong>

Jacob was standing in the forest, his muscles glistening in the light reflecting off the snow. The smile on his face was warm enough to melt ice. I ran to him and wrapped him in an embrace. He pulled my face up to his and his lips met mine. My heart skipped enjoyably in my chest. My hands were on his bare skin; his muscles were hard beneath his warmth. One of his hands was stroking my hair, his other hand was moving slowly down my back and my body was reacting in a pleasant but unfamiliar way to his tender touch. His tongue was tracing my lip now, requesting access while the hand on my back slipped under my shirt and-

My eyes snapped open.

Damn.

What was he going to do next?

I moaned into my pillow. It wasn't as if I had never thought about having Jake in that way, but I had never thought about it with such sensual detailed clarity and never had I thought about it in my sleep. Not that I minded. Now I was grinning into my pillow.

I heard voices downstairs. It must have been what woke me. They sounded panicked and angry. Arguing maybe? I listened closer.

"…not a fortune cookie," Alice was saying.

"Let's crack you open and find out," Jacob growled.

Alice hissed.

"That's enough!" Mom snapped.

I sat up. That was strange. I have never heard Jacob talk to Auntie Alice like that. Never. They were usually on good terms. Aunt Rose got death threats all the time, but then she gave them as often as she got them.

In another room, I could hear Uncle Emmett.

"Maybe Carlisle…" his voice trailed off.

"No," my dad was answering, "this is more of an emotional problem, that's Jasper's expertise. When he's… better I might be able to see his mind, figure out why you all thought he was being buried alive. Besides if Carlisle leaves the hospital early again it's bound to bring suspicion."

"Jasper will be able to put him right, right?" Seth asked in a small voice.

Dad didn't answer.

Was someone hurt?

I was on my feet in an instant. I pushed the door open and headed down.

Mom, Alice and Jacob were easiest to find. Alice and Jacob were glaring at each other too intensely to notice me. Mom was chewing on her lip, her forehead wrinkled. She looked up at me immediately.

"Oh, honey, we didn't mean to wake you…"

"Is someone hurt?" I asked.

"Embry," Jake answered breaking free of his trance.

I knew Jake well enough to hear the worry in his voice. I went to his side and wrapped an arm around his waist while he wrapped one around my shoulders.

"What happened?" I asked.

"We aren't sure, vampire attack, we think," he said with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"I thought I heard Dad say something about being buried alive?" Actually, I was sure of it. "I don't understand…"

"That makes two of us," he muttered turning his eyes back to Alice.

"Jacob," she said sounding tired, "I can't tell you what I don't see. I'm trying and I'll keep trying but there's too much…_interference._ I'm sorry." Alice really did sound sorry, but whether it was because Embry got hurt or because her visions were becoming more flawed, I couldn't tell.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

**Jacob POV**

I couldn't look at Alice anymore, she was making me sick. What good is a psychic if she can't see the future?

Instead, I ducked my head and buried my face into Nessie's hair. Her scent washed over me, sweet and familiar, her arms wrapped around my waist, warm and soothing. Comfortable and right. That's how it should have felt to hold her. The circumstances were spoiling the experience.

"Jacob? Edward?" Jasper's voice carried from Carlisle and Esme's bedroom where we'd stashed Embry.

I drifted into the room with Edward in front and Nessie at my side. I breathed a sigh of relief to see Embry sitting up in bed, his back up against the headboard. He was looking pale but he gave me a grin. The smile didn't reach his eyes though.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he answered. "You?"

"Fine. Embry… What happened?"

His forced smile faded. "I don't know Jake. I was waiting for you and then I heard laughter and I turned to look but…" He shuddered. "I was suddenly in the dark," Embry was whispering now, "I realized I was in a box… A coffin. The dirt was being thrown on and I couldn't get out, I couldn't breathe…" His voice kept breaking as he spoke.

I was a little unnerved at the look on his face. It was like looking into the face of a lost child.

"Is it really?" Edward asked randomly.

Embry's eyes flicked to Edward's face. Then he gave one slow nod.

"Yes… It is." Embry said.

"What?" I asked them both.

Embry looked down at the bed sheets so Edward answered me.

"He was remembering when he was sent into the cemetery at night on a dare. He fell into an open grave and couldn't get out. He was just thinking that being buried alive… It's his greatest fear."

I knew there was an important point to Edward's train of thought but I couldn't stop the guilt that washed over me. Quil and I were the ones who dared him to go into the cemetery that night. Sure, we went in for him when we heard him screaming for help…

"What does that mean to you?" I asked Edward when I noticed his frown.

"He caught the scent of a vampire. He heard someone laughing. He thought he was buried alive, his greatest fear come true. We know he wasn't being buried alive because you found him in the snow. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say the vampire in question creates illusions, similar to what Zafrina can do. Considering what the illusion means to Embry… I bet that he can sense or manipulate fear somehow."

It made sense, I guess. Why does he have to be right all the time? This really sucks too because if that is true, the only way to fight the vampire would be with Bella, and Tom was very clear that my family was not to be involved.

"Well, you'll have to change his mind," Edward said to me.

"Did you find anything… after?" Embry asked.

I sighed. "Yes… We found another kid. As for the vampire, we followed the scent to the road but he must have gotten picked up by a car or had one parked there." I hesitated before adding, "It might be harder to catch him now. Bella said it was on the six o'clock news. Someone finally identified the first victim; his parents flew in to claim him. The reporter mentioned rumors that he wasn't the only one to be found. Tom says they can't keep it quiet anymore; he's surprised they managed to hush it up for this long. The fifth victim will probably on morning news and an admission to the others will have to be made. People will be looking for anything suspicious in the woods. We'll have to be careful from now on."

"Great," Embry said sarcastically. "Seth? Leah? Are they…?"

"I'm here," Seth spoke up, suddenly appearing in the doorway.

"Leah's a liaison now," I snorted. "She's with the bears. You know, I'd be a little proud of her except for how full of herself she's getting. We should let her know you're going to be fine though. She's worried… He is going to be fine, right?" I asked, glancing between Edward and Jasper.

"Oh, I think so," Jasper answered. "There doesn't seem to be any lasting damage to his emotional state, although you might want to have Carlisle take a look for physical damage."

"I doubt he'd find any at the rate they heal," Edward said to Jasper. Then to Embry he added, "You should probably get some rest. You're welcome to stay here of course-"

"No offense, but I need a break from the smell of vampire," Embry interrupted.

"I bet," Edward answered with a chuckle.

"Get up, I'll take you home," I told him.

He was a little shaky getting to his feet but once he was up, he steadied himself enough to walk on his own.

* * *

><p>"Jacob Black! You get up this instant!" Billy bellowed up the stairs.<p>

I meant to say "What's the matter?" but it came out sounding like "Wazzamad-gerr?" Billy never really asserted his authority as a parent before so I was more than a little surprised to hear his voice booming up the stairs sounding like an angry Alpha giving a command.

"Get up now!" He yelled again.

Yup. Exactly like an Alpha. I was on my feet in an instant. I couldn't disobey. I staggered to the door, grabbed the knob to balance myself, and opened the door. I wondered if other kids had it like this. I didn't want to go down and face his mysterious anger but I couldn't find a way out of it. Did other kids feel the compulsion to walk to their doom, when it would be wiser to run?

I'm a werewolf for crying out loud. I lead my own pack. I've killed vampires. I helped deliver a vampire hybrid and manfully stomached the gore that went along with its birth. I have killed elk, deer, and mountain lion with the power of my jaws. I ran in the wilds of Canada for weeks, living and hunting as a wolf all by my lonesome. So how come none of that mattered when I got to the stairs and saw Billy's face was red and livid? How come I suddenly feared this old man in a wheel chair the way Embry seemed to fear live burial?

"Yeah, D-Dad?" I stuttered, shifting my weight from foot to foot.

_This is stupid Jake. Go down and talk to him. What can he do?_ I thought to myself. And although I knew it was stupid, I stayed where I was.

"What do you think you are doing?" He growled.

"Umm…" I hadn't a clue what he meant. I had a feeling it would be unwise to admit that fact.

"If you're not dressed in five minutes, I swear I'll drag myself up those stairs, and escort you to school with you in your birthday suit." His voice was calming down slightly but his face seemed to become an even more violent looking color.

"Huh?" His train of thought confused me. Whatever I thought I was in trouble for, it was not this.

"What do you mean 'huh'?" He glared through slitted eyes, daring me to say something smart.

"It was a long night last night; I've only slept an hour! I just thought-"

"Quiet! You have midterm exams this week, and you're not missing a one of them, do you hear me!"

"I've already taken sophomore year, dad, you know-"

"You listen here Jacob Black! You dropped out of high school in La Push and I let you get away with it because you had so much to deal with and I thought it better if you learned how to manage yourself. You've done that. Now you have a second chance. I am old and goddamn it I have earned the right to watch my youngest walk the stage. You are not flunking out." He paused to catch his breath and, like an angry vampire, he hissed his final words through clenched teeth. "Get dressed. Get to school. Now."

I didn't dare argue, although my eyelids certainly wanted me to. I shuffled back to my room and threw on the first clothes my hands touched. It's not like I hadn't had to go a few days sleep deprived before, right? I have two exams today and ring shopping this afternoon…

I ran down the stairs and grabbed my book bag where I dropped it the day before.

"Um, dad? One thing before I go…" His eyes narrowed at me but I pushed on. "I'm going to propose to Nessie…" His eyes sprung open with surprise. "I want to get a ring after school, so I'll miss dinner."

"With what money?" he asked.

"You know I've saved up a little. It was supposed to be for car parts but I haven't had time to start a new project and I figured this was a better… Where are you going?" I asked watching Billy roll away from me.

"Wait here. School can wait," he called over his shoulder.

He disappeared around the corner and I heard his bedroom door open. I listened as he muttered under his breath. I heard the sound of a drawer opening. Then a crash as its contents dropped to the floor.

"Uh…" Should I offer to help? What use would I be when I don't even know what he is looking for?

But Billy was already back. I was too busy focusing on the smile to notice anything else at first. It was so happy, such a contrast to what it looked like before, I got a little afraid again. He stopped in front of me and then took from his lap a little red box. He passed it to me. Curious, I opened it.

It was a pair of wedding rings. I recognized them right away as Claddagh rings and there was something very familiar about them. The more delicate of the two, clearly meant for a woman, was beautiful. Between the little golden hands and beneath the crown, sat a small, but perfectly cut heart-shaped diamond. The other was a matching ring, minus the diamond, with a thick band, but the gold still shone as if it hadn't ever been worn.

My mouth dropped open, not for the first time this week.

"Those rings belonged to your mother and me… I didn't have money to get an engagement ring too, but your mom made do with that. She had delicate fingers, like Renesmee, so it should fit her. Yours will probably need to be resized, but I'm betting you won't want to wear jewelry until after the wedding." He chuckled.

I was speechless. In my hands, I held the symbol of my parent's love for one another. I finally managed to string the words together and they surprised me. "Dad, I can't-"

He laughed. "Son, who else would I give them to?"

I thought for a second. "Good point." Then I tacked on as an afterthought, "How come Rachael and Rebecca never…"

"Never got this offer? I figured it might be a painful reminder of what they lost. Besides, Jacob, they both have men to get them their own rings. Save your money for your life together." The big smile on his face faded away. The expression on my father's face grew soft and serious at the same time. "Not that you had much choice in the choosing, Jacob, but you chose a fine woman. She loves you and you love her and she'll say yes and you will live happily forever after. Your mother would be proud… Is. Your mother is proud, wherever she may be."

God damn it. Just when I think I know the old man, he says something like this and throws everything out of wack. Now what do I say? "I love you" seems far too sensitive coming from my mouth no matter if it's true or not. I can't insist he hold on to them because: one, it would hurt him and two, nothing would make me prouder than to wear the rings that were a symbol of my parents commitment, and three, that ring would look perfect on Nessie's finger.

So I leaned in and hugged him close.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Sure, sure," he said and I pulled back to see his face. He wiggled his brow and said in a stage whisper, "I do have ulterior motives, you know."

I stood up straight and crossed my arms across my chest, playing along.

"Oh?" I growled at him.

"Oh, yes," he said with an all too innocent expression. "I'm going to get one of my grandbabies named after me."

I laughed but then stopped. That was something to think about, wasn't it?

Children.

I could have a family with Renesmee. For a second, the idea was beautiful. Nessie with the glow of an expecting mother, Nessie crooning a lullaby at a beautiful infant fussing in her arms, Nessie's laughter as she played peek-a-boo with a totally mesmerized toddler... Then the idea got confusing as hell.

What would it be?

Both Nessie and I were half something besides human and it wasn't even the same something. Would it phase? Would it bite? Food or blood? Would it be immortal? Or would our human halves combine to make a mortal with some really freaky abilities?

I don't know what Billy saw in my face but he burst into uncontrollable laughter. I felt my face fill with blood and I dashed upstairs to stash the rings. Then I fled to the car leaving Billy to his hysterics.

I _almost_ got away.

Just as I was about to close the door, Billy called out the window, "By the way, if Edward kills you, I expect the rings back! There is always Seth and Embry!"

I slammed the door.

Crap. I had a ring. My last excuse not to tell Edward. Renesmee was expecting me to propose soon. I had to talk to Edward and Bella _sooner._ I cringed at the thought of Edward's reaction. As I drove to school, I began weighing a couple of factors against each other: How fast I could phase vs. how fast he could run.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I had planned it all perfectly. Friday night, tonight actually, I was going to ask Edward and Bella for Nessie's hand. Nessie would be out with Alice, Rosalie, and Esme. Carlisle would be at work and Seth agreed to keep Jasper and Emmett occupied for the evening. I would have plenty of privacy.

_Or too much._

Tomorrow, no matter their answer, I had a romantic evening planned for Ness and me and then I'd officially pop the question. It was easier to plan a proposal than it should have been. Most guys don't have the benefit of knowing the answer before hand. The pressure isn't completely off though. I still have to get the words out coherently and in the correct order and at the right time so when we have little monsters of our own and they want to know the story, my beautiful wife doesn't have to duck her head in shame.

The week had passed relatively uneventful. This is both good and bad. No one got hurt, that we know of, but no one caught the murderous pair either. I took my exams and I don't think I failed any. Meanwhile, Leah spent a good portion of her time hiding from Alice who is more than overly anxious to get started on the wedding dress.

I was almost at my final destination. Poor choice of words. If Edward doesn't take this well, his house might be my _very final_ destination. I slowed the car and tried to take my thoughts down other avenues. I had to be almost in his hearing range if I wasn't already. The problem was that anything, no matter how obscure, if I thought about it for too long, would eventually find a way to relate back to Nessie.

So think about something. Something fairly obscure. A song? Song lyrics. Sing a song in my head. What song? Nessie likes the Fray. Do I know anything by the Fray?

_I found God at the corner of First and Amistad, where the west was all but won…_

_All alone… something something something, I said where you been, he said ask anything…_

_Where were you yada yada yada sitting by a telephone…_

_and all I needed was a friend or something along those lines._

I pulled into the driveway and caught Edward's face peeking out a window with a highly suspicious frown.

Focus, how does the chorus go?

_Lost and in the door, you found me, you found me…_

_Lying on the floor, surround it, surround it…_

_Why'd you have to hate, where were you, where were you…_

I stepped out of the car and Bella opened the door. She had a smirk on her face. Edward probably told her what I was doing. I was not as effective at keeping him out as Alice was, but I'm getting there. At least I can keep him from hearing-

_NO! NO! NO! _

_LOST AND IN THE DOOR, YOU FOUND ME, YOU FOUND ME…_

_Lying on the floor, surrounding, surrounding…_

_Why'd you have to date, where were you… Just a little fate…_

"I want to talk to you and Edward about something, if you have a minute…" They have eternity; they should be able to give me a minute.

"What's going on Jacob?" Bella asked.

_I found God at the corner of First and Amistad…_

"How nice for you," grumbled Edward while he rolled his eyes. "I hope you got an autograph…"

I ignored the jibe. "I think we should sit down, it's kind of important…"

Bella nodded and took Edward's hand, pulling him to a loveseat. I sat across from them.

"What's going on?" Bella asked again.

What's going on is if I phase indoors I can't get outdoors and if I have a chance of outrunning Edward, I need to be in my wolf form. If I phase indoors I will trap myself and there will be no escape. That mean's I have to get out the door before Edward can get out of his seat…

"Jacob?" Amusement and suspicion divided Edward's expression.

Well, this revelation is bound to kill the amusement…

"Well, it's about Nessie…" I glanced at Edward who stiffened as he heard where I was leading. Bella leaned forward politely interested.

"Well, I…" I stole a nervous glance at Edward who was now glaring unblinkingly.

"Spit it out Jacob," Bella urged, glancing at Edward too.

I inhaled deeply and then did as she asked. "I love Nessie more than anything else on the planet. I want to be there for her for always… protecting her, loving her, making her happy, comforting her when she needs it… If she'll have me, I'll marry her. I want to marry her… That's why I'm here. I want to ask for your permission and blessing… I want to ask you for her hand."

I waited for an answer but silence greeted me instead. Bella's face was blank. Completely blank. That confused me. Bella's emotions usually displayed on her face, immortality had not changed that fact. There did not seem to be anything there now.

The words I spoke were truer than any that had ever passed my lips but even so, I could hear the corniness in them. I wasn't too worried about that. Bella always was one for old-fashioned romantics… look at her bookshelf… Hell, look at her husband! Edward _lived_ in the age of corny.

I tensed as I watched Edward's face give a twitch, but just one twitch. Was this a good sign or the calm before the storm? His eyes narrowed for a minute as he surveyed me. Then he grinned and leapt to his feet. I leapt to my feet too and stumbled backward and away. My foot caught the coffee table and I fell backwards to the floor. Edward burst into laughter. Unwilling to turn my back on him, I pulled myself backward with my hands until I was pressed against the wall. He laughed harder.

I let out a laugh too but it was a nervous, desperate kind of laugh. Like a _"ha-ha-ha, please don't kill me"_ kind of thing.

"Bella!" I called to her.

Her eyes snapped back into focus and she reached out and grabbed him. She pulled him back down beside her; he continued to laugh.

"Get up, Jacob," he said, in-between chuckles.

I got up.

"Sit down, Jacob," he said, gesturing to the chair.

I sat down.

He stopped laughing, but he was still smiling.

"Jacob, Jacob, relax, I'm not going to kill you," Edward said like this was completely obvious.

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked, while glancing at the door.

He chuckled again. "I am not going to do anything to you, Jacob. So you can just relax now."

"You're not?" I asked for confirmation at the same time Bella asked, "_Really_?"

"Really, I'm not," he smiled at me.

My name is Jacob Black and I am confused.

"I'm confused," I said out loud.

"Jacob, my daughter couldn't have found herself a better man. I am so happy for the both of you."

He looked very sincere.

"Wait a minute. You're… _happy_… about this?"

"Very."

I couldn't detect a lie.

"Wait a minute!" I shouted in disbelief. "You've been grouching and growling since September about me and Nessie and now… _Everything's okay_?"

He gave a coy smile. "Well… I didn't think it would kill you to have a little respect…"

I stared for a few seconds before his words sunk in.

He's a piece of work! He's been faking this whole time! Acting!

His smug smile broadened.

In addition, Jasper was in on it! That's why he never worried when Edward showed signs of coming unhinged, because his little gift let him know that Edward was only screwing with my head.

Edward nodded.

"Who else?" I whispered, glancing at Bella who had retreated into her emotionless stare again.

"Me and Jasper, that's it…" He frowned and looked at Bella too. "Bella? Love? What is it? What's wrong?"

Her eyes flicked between his face and mine several times and she remained silent.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

When she was human, he asked that question in hopes she would just tell him what was going through her head. Now it was a different request. Now the question was a request for her to lift her shield and let him hear for himself. From the frustrated look on his face, she did not attempt to let him in.

She looked at me and asked quietly, "When?"

"When what?"

"When are you going to ask her?"

"Tomorrow night."

"Do you have a ring?"

"Yes, my dad gave me my mom's… Bella, what?"

She was quiet again, the little pucker between her eyes appeared as she struggled with some thought. It made me nervous.

Bella was okay with this, right? I thought she, of all people, would have accepted this, would have welcomed this. If Edward had taken the news well, how was it possible that she couldn't? Then Edward had said this union made him happy, she had said nothing at all. Was it possible that Bella was going to deny me my request? How could I live with that? She was my best friend; I needed her to be okay with this. She was the mother of my true love and Nessie needed her mother to support her in this.

"Bells?" My voice had the sound of a pathetic plea to it.

Her eyes focused on me and slowly the wrinkle smoothed away.

"Well, Jake," she said with a smile, "welcome to the family."

I drove home slowly, thinking about Bella's reaction. The emotionless staring. The strange sequence of questions. The silence. The telltale frown that something was troubling her. Then when she answered my question, _that_ smile.

I recognized that smile right away because I had seen it on Leah's face so often. The smile of unhappiness; the smile of someone trying not to make waves when they so desperately wanted to make waves… Her tone sounded genuine, so very genuine, but that smile… That smile was forced.

The question was _why_?

Did Bella not want me to marry Renesmee? That didn't seem likely, after that first stressful year she never showed anything but support for me and Nessie. And if she had a problem, why wouldn't she just say so? But then…

If she had a problem, she wouldn't say so, would she? She would rather live a life of misery than cause someone she loved pain. If she didn't want us to get married, she would never say so… She knew how much I loved Nessie. She knew that Nessie loved me back. Even if she could bring herself to hurt me, which I'm not entirely she sure she could, there was no way she could hurt Nessie.

Or maybe I'm blowing this wildly out of proportion. Bella's voice was definitely genuine, right? So maybe she's just worried. She's a mom and a vampire and her only daughter is about to get married. Of course, she has to be worried. She has a lot of things to worry about. Nessie and I tying the knot after one date. It was very soon. The wedding with all its possible complications. I didn't even want to think about how screwed up the guest list was going to be. The honeymoon. Her daughter off with the randy teenage werewolf. The confusing subject of what kind of family will begin when we finally start one.

This train of thought began to relax me. Duh. Bella was worried. Bella worried about everything. That was it; she was worried. I laughed as I pulled in the driveway. It was so Bella.

I was half way to the door when I heard a cry from inside the house.

"Heee liiivvvesss!" Embry yelled.

I glanced up to see Embry in the kitchen window. He grinned and ducked out of sight.

"Shut up, Embry!" Seth yelled over him. "Can't you see he's traumatized?"

Seth's remark came from somewhere deeper in the house. That gave me pause. I thought he was supposed to be keeping Emmet and Jasper busy?

Then I heard Emmett's booming laughter. "Embry, how's his walk looking? Has the Alpha had his Betas blocked?"

Five different sets of laughter chorused inside.

"Nah, he looks normal," Embry answered, once he had gotten a hold of himself.

Jasper chuckled and said, "Billy, you in?"

I stomped into the house. They weren't hard to find. The five of them had set up a green card table in the middle of the living room.

"Well, how did it go?" Jasper asked.

"You know damn well how it went!" I snapped at him.

I stuck my foot underneath his folding chair and overturned it. He burst into laughter but made no move to get up from the floor.

"I can't help it if I want my niece to be treated with all the respect a young lady deserves!" His laughter made the words barely intelligible.

"What'd I miss?" Emmett asked, reaching down and pulling his brother into a more dignified sitting position.

"Jasper has been… cahooting… with Edward. Edward doesn't have a problem with me proposing to Nessie! He's… _thrilled._" I looked at Jasper with all the contempt I could muster.

Emmett looked at me blankly then looked back to Jasper - who had silenced his laughter, but still trembled with it - as he got to his feet. When it finally sunk in, Emmett through his head back and roared his guffaws again.

"Alright, alright, settle down," Billy chastised.

Jasper fixed his chair and sat back down.

"Jacob, there is another folding chair in the basement…" Billy said waving a hand at me. "Jasper, I'm all in." He shoved all of his poker chips to the center of the table.

"You're bluffing, you have to be," Embry accused Billy, but he lay his cards face down on the table anyway.

I left to my bedroom, too disgusted to stay.

* * *

><p><em>I don't know if anyone is interested, but the other site I post on, FreeWritersandReaders is allowing me to make a <em>_discussion group for my stories, extras, polls, etc...So if you'd like to talk to other readers reading my stories, or me for that matter, in between posting...you can head there. I know FF is cracking down on external links but I''ll put the unactive link on my profile, and you can c+p into your address bar... I will also be adding the links to my blog._


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

**Renesmee POV**

Leah had just arrived to work on wedding planning with Gramma and Auntie Alice. Although I wasn't directly involved with the wedding plans I joined them at the kitchen table to observe. I'd have my own wedding to plan soon enough. I needed to see how to do it.

"The dress, Leah!" Alice interrupted whatever Esme had begun to say. "You made me wait the whole week! Before anything else is discussed, I demand that you tell me about your dream dress!"

Leah sighed and shook her head but I could see Leah was going to give Alice what she wanted. The best way to shut Auntie Alice up was to let her have her way. I love her, but it's the truth.

"Alright, Alice, the dress first."

Alice sat up straighter and grinned a grin that looked too big for her little face.

"Yes! Okay, first things first. The color. Now traditionally its white, obviously, but some brides are now going with ivory, which is a creamy-"

"I know what ivory is-"

"Good. Now I think we should go with white, it will look best with your black hair…" Alice trailed off with a horrified expression on her face. "Leah, you are going to let your hair grow out, at least for the wedding, aren't you?"

I struggled not to laugh at the incredulous tone Alice used, or the stern look that crossed Leah's face in response. I caught Gramma's eye and she and I exchanged smirks. Leah really had no idea what trouble she had brought upon herself. On the plus side, if there was anyone with a chance of controlling my energetic Aunt, it was Leah.

"Never mind my hair Alice, focus on the dress," Leah ordered.

"But-"

"You promised, Alice! Just the dress and advice. I still have the right to kick you off the wedding plans. If you don't behave, I swear, I'll…" Leah paused to search for a suitable threat before continuing, "I swear if you don't behave Alice, I'll wear something _off the rack."_

Damn. Leah _was_ good.

Alice gasped, "You wouldn't!"

Leah answered with one word. "Would."

There was silence as the glared at each other and then Alice gave in.

"The color?"

"White, I want a white dress, but here's where you get to be a little creative-" Alice's face lit up like a Christmas tree at the word creative, "- I think just plain white is a little boring. I was wondering; could you do something to bring a little bit of color into it? Not a lot, obviously white should be the dominant feature on the dress, but enough so the dress looks… I don't know, exciting?"

"Oooo, that could be fun! What color or colors do you want added?" Alice said getting into full stride again.

"How 'bout we stick with one color? I wouldn't want to be too distracting from my groom." Leah paused and smiled. I could tell she liked the saying "my groom."

"Red, I think. It's my favorite color."

"Red. Got it. Now, straps, strapless, sleeves…"

"Um…No sleeves. As for straps or strapless, it's the designer's choice."

"Thanks, Leah. Now the neckline of the bodice. How do you want it cut, and how low or high do you want it?"

They were off then, talking about trains and cuts, skirt volume and length, veils or tiaras... a blur of details that would all amount to the same thing. A wedding dress. Leah's answers surprised me. They were detailed and clear. It made me wonder if she had spent the week preparing for Alice's questions or if, maybe some part of her heart that had retained hope, she had prepared for the questions long ago and was now reciting a well-memorized dream. When Alice was finished talking, and Leah had reminded Alice not to go overboard, she took out a tape measure and took Leah's measurements.

"Excellent!" Alice exclaimed while lowering herself into a chair. "Now, what about bridesmaid dresses? I could make those too, but it will add to the time. You did say you wanted to marry sooner rather than later? I think off the rack would be suitable because you certainly don't want them to be detracting from you, but I would be more than happy to create something if you were willing to stretch out the engagement…" Alice's voice trailed off a bit hopefully.

She was disappointed.

"No, you won't be designing bridesmaid dresses… Actually, I haven't decided on bridesmaids yet…" Leah's eyes flicked down and there was something quiet about her voice…

Alice went on and on, oblivious to Leah's response, but Gramma and I exchanged looks with each other. Leah was hiding something, something she didn't want Alice to know. Gramma was curious, I could tell. But more importantly, I was curious.

I pulled the trigger.

"Excuse me, Alice…"

She stopped talking and looked at me.

"Leah, what do you mean you haven't decided on bridesmaids yet? I bet Caroline and Amanda would be more than happy to do it…"

The look Leah was giving me was like outrage on ice.

"Yeah, good thinking Nessie! Leah, you should ask them!" Alice frowned, noticing the look on Leah's face for the first time.

Leah struggled to find a more innocent expression and said, "Maybe, but let me give it some thought." Then she glowered in my direction. "Renesmee, don't you have a date to prepare for?"

"Jake isn't picking me up until four," I told her.

She glowered a moment longer and I glanced down at the table.

I suppose it wasn't fair of me to start trouble, I was just… jealous. I wanted to plan my wedding, pick out my bridesmaids, talk about the dress of my dreams, and brag about my too-good-to-be-true groom. But Jake wanted to talk to my parents first, and knowing my parents, it was probably a good thing that he wanted to keep things a little traditional. Still, being patient isn't my strong suit.

It did not help that Jacob refused to tell me where we are going tonight. He wanted to surprise me. Normally, I loved surprises, but I love Jake more. The thought of spending an evening with him, made me want to know the specifics… badly. What would we be doing? Where would we be doing it?

That last question had a double meaning I didn't catch until after I thought it and then it was too late. Thoughts of Jake wrapped around me. His jet-black hair, his eyes so deep a brown they were very nearly black, and his russet skin, warm and soft. What would it be like to have that skin on mine? I imagined my hands on his muscular, chiseled chest, his strong hands caressing me, and his legs tangling with mine…

"What are you blushing about?" Leah's voice was a sharp jolt back into reality.

"Nothing," I mumbled.

I got to my feet. I had a few hours before Jacob came to pick me up and I certainly wasn't going to waste them.

* * *

><p><strong>Jacob POV<strong>

Planning the proposal had been surprisingly easy. There would be no clichés involved if I could help it. Nessie liked romance but not the done to death romance. Fancy restaurants were out. There were only a few foods that Nessie enjoyed and my dinner manners were lacking. A trip to the first place we met would be ridiculous. _"Hey, Ness, you wanna take cross-country road trip to Carlisle's study in the Cullen mansion back in Forks?"_ Like that wouldn't raise questions. The place of the first date was out too… Edward might rethink his acceptance of me if we got caught breaking and entering into the school and he had to bail us out of jail.

Nope. Instead of straight up romance we were gonna have fun.

Evan and Lucas, the werebear twins, heard about my quest for something fun and tipped me off with what I thought was a winning idea. About an hour's drive from here, there was a ski resort. If you go in behind the property, there are slopes that don't belong to the resort mainly because the danger level is too high for straight up humans…

Nessie and I are sturdy and balanced enough so we wouldn't get hurt. I checked it out ahead of time to make sure; the twins were even nice enough to draw me a map through the woods. I wouldn't need it a second time; I could follow my own scent in. Granted, by the time we got there, it would be night but me and Ness both had night vision. Problem solved. And seeing as the slopes were off limits to the tourists, we would be alone. I already brought a couple of snowboards up so nothing would give me away when we went hiking through the woods. And the cold won't be a problem either. We're too hot to get cold.

I was hoping that the fact that it would be just the two of us would be enough to make the trip romantic.

Anyways, I figure I'll race her down to the bottom. I'll very obviously let her win. She hates it when I let her win. So while she is ranting about me throwing the game, I'll take out the little box with the little ring and let that shut her up. Then when she's busy eyeing that, I'll get down and propose. A back plan was necessary should she beat me by herself. She learned an unpleasant trait from Emmett… let's just say she's not a gracious winner. I'll wait until she starts her victory song and dance (she literally sings and dances) then I will fake hurt and teasingly take out the ring to interrupt her.

My biggest problem was that I was late. By fifteen minutes to be exact.

Stupid laundry.

Maybe she won't hold it against me.

I let myself into the house when no one met me at the door.

"Jacob," Esme called my name as she came down the stairs.

"Hey, Esme. Is Nessie furious that I'm late?"

"She doesn't know you're late," Esme laughed. "She's late. Nessie went down to Tara's to pick up a much needed accessory to go with her outfit this evening… I thought she'd be back by now but Tara has the gift of gab and Nessie might have gotten a little held up."

Nessie's friend Tara did indeed have the gift of gab. She was like an iPOD. No commercial breaks. Ever. She just keeps going until the battery runs out. For the first time I was thankful for Tara's perpetual mouth. I wasn't in trouble.

"She'll be here soon," Esme smiled.

I headed into the living room to make myself comfortable. Emmett, Edward, and Jasper were already there watching a football game. I sat down and Jasper spared a glance for me, probably noticing my excitement, but Emmett was leaning forward as if he was about to swan dive into the TV. Edward wasn't actually watching the game. He was reading what looked like a medical journal.

I glanced at the game. Patriots versus Falcons. Nobody on the board yet.

"It's a good plan," Edward said randomly, looking up from his book.

Emmett, Jasper, and I, all looked at him. Their heads returned to the game when they realized he was talking to me.

"What?"

"Your plans for this evening. I could hear you outside… Very Nessie." He smiled his approval at me.

This was going to take some getting used to.

"You don't think it's to… You don't think it's not…_intimate_ enough?" I cringed a little at the word intimate. I wasn't the only one who reacted to that word. Emmett, in a never before seen move, grabbed the remote and clicked the TV off. His head swiveled to meet mine with a disgusting expression on his face and Jasper turned away from me to look at Edward.

"I'm sorry, _intimate?_ Is our little Jake-Jake finally getting some?" Emmett waggled his eyebrows at me suggestively, making Nessie's old pet name for me sound dirty.

"Shut up!" I snapped at him.

_You know that's not what I meant, Edward,_ I thought at him.

"I know what you meant Jacob, and I actually think it's just right for you and Renesmee. She likes to be herself, she likes you to be yourself. There won't be any pressure." He told me and then glared at Emmett.

Emmett looked disappointed.

"So you're really proposing tonight?" Jasper asked curiously.

"Yeah, I really am."

"Just be glad you're not proposing to a psychic." He chuckled. "I remember with Alice, I didn't even have time to buy a ring. The second I thought, _I'm going to ask her to marry me,_ she screamed, _Yes, Jasper, yes!_ Which wouldn't have been too much of a problem for me except that we were in a park and it was evening and a police officer overheard and came over because he thought we were…" Emmett interrupted with a chuckle and I struggled to keep my laughter from bursting out as I realized what the cop had thought.

"Well, of course, we _weren't,_" Jasper emphasized this, as if it was the most vitally important part of the story. "Anyways, I made her promise to actually let me propose with a ring and all…" He laughed shaking his head.

"What happened?" I asked, the tone of his laughter said clearly that something had.

"The whole time I was down on one knee, her eyes were about a couple of seconds into the future. She saw every word I said before I said it. She was so caught up in the vision proposal that she forgot to wait for me to catch up and started giving her answer before I had even finished!"

I laughed too. That definitely sounds like Alice.

"Jacob should just be glad my daughter _wants_ to get married-"

"That's right! How many times did you propose to Bella, like fifty? Or was it closer to a hundred?" Emmett interrupted.

"It was closer to fourteen and the point is I got her down the aisle in the end, didn't I?"

"Amateurs." Emmett turned his attention back to me. "Listen, Jacob, don't listen to these two. They wasted all that time trying to be old-fashioned gentlemen and look where it got 'em. Alice wore the pants on the night Jasper should have had them on, and Edward had to beg-"

"I didn't beg-"

"I asked Rosalie to get hitched like that-" he paused to snap his fingers, "- and she didn't hesitate to agree."

"That's because you literally screwed her senseless! If you had given her a second to catch her breath, you would not be with us today." Jasper retorted.

"Exactly!" Emmett agreed.

Jasper's face was full of disdain as he realized what Emmett was implying and Edward looked furious with the way the conversation had gone. I didn't blame him, but I was thoroughly entertained.

"Just because you and Rosalie are deviants-"

"Oh-ho, _we're_ the deviants? Puh-lease, what exactly are you and Bella doing when you sneak away every night as soon as Nessie goes to sleep? A little late night gardening, hmm?"

If Edward could have blushed, he would have.

I seriously needed some popcorn or something.

"Emmett, if you think that physical love is-"

"Yeah, yeah, Jazz, it's all about their _emotions._ Really, if you just give them what they want they're like putty in your-"

"Oh please! Rosalie is not putty in your hands or anyone else's! At least Edward and I aren't afraid of our wives…" Jasper finished his comment by making the sound of a whiplash.

"I am not whipped!" He snarled.

"The girls are back early," Edward interrupted now.

"What?" Emmett leapt to his feet and glanced toward the window facing the driveway.

The car engine we could hear on the road, stayed on the road.

Edward snickered. Jasper and I both burst into laughter as Emmett sat back down with a growl, but clearly shaken up at the thought of Rosalie catching him talking like a…

"Pig. Pig is the word you are looking for Jacob." Edward offered.

The three of them started arguing again and I tore myself away to look at the clock. Going on four thirty. I hesitated and pulled out my cell. I debated for a second then decided to text Nessie.

_Where are you?_ Delete. _Are you on your way?_ Delete. _What's taking so long?_ Delete. _Hurry up Ness, your family is giving me the willies._ I smiled. That's a keeper. Send.

"_It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight, risin' up to the challenge of our rival… And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night and he's watchin' us all with the eye of the tiger.…"_ My ring tone shut the vampires up real quick.

I flipped the phone open before they could comment.

"Ness?"

"No, it's Leah." She was out of breath and her voice sounded choked.

I knew right away that something was wrong.

"What happened?" I straightened up and ignored the yellow eyes now watching my every move.

"Josh was attacked. Gather whoever is there and bring them. Tom says our vampires are in. He wants this ended."

"How bad is he?"

"He'll live. We're meeting at Tom's house. I have to go."

I looked up at Edward, Jasper, and Emmett who were already standing.

"You get that?" I asked.

They nodded.

"I'll drive."

I spun around to see Esme.

I wasn't too surprised she wanted to come. Esme was mother of the year and someone was deliberately killing children. I was surprised she had been listening in, but I didn't argue with her.

_Date's canceled. Emergency. Sorry. Love you._ Send.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

**Simon POV**

"Are you sure she's the one?" I asked Madelyn.

She snorted at me and rolled her eyes before breezing out of the room without comment.

I knew the answer to the question regardless. It could be no other. The girl crumpled on the floor in a semiconscious state was an exquisite child. Powerful too. A little bruised maybe, but that was more my fault than hers. For someone so powerful she was so easily accessible. With all the fuss Madelyn had gone through I expected _the child_ to have more watchful parents, or at the very least, some sort of bodyguard. And her fears… I closed my eyes and reveled in exquisiteness of her fears.

As surprised as I was to find that Madelyn had found her final target, I was even more surprise she lived in town. Surprised and overjoyed. I got to mess with my shape-shifting irritants on their own territory. I decided to cause a mild distraction… Lit the Leader Bear's house on fire. To my extreme disappointment, he wasn't home. However, one of his friends was in the vicinity so I'm sure he knows by now. The stupid youth wasn't even in bear form when he stumbled upon me. I gave him a little taste of fear and let him live to deliver a nonverbal but very clear message. My power exceeds theirs. Subtle, right?

"Here," Madelyn snapped.

I opened my eyes to see her handing me a bowl filled with some sort of smoking incense.

"This will keep her sedated, since we can't use normal means. If it stops smoking tell me and I'll get more, but for now leave it by her head so she is forced to inhale."

"Madelyn, will you bleed her like the others?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, but I need her alive for that," she said very pointedly.

It was my turn to roll my eyes now. _No kidding. _You'd think after all this time she'd trust me.

She left the room again to continue her preparations and the girl on the floor moaned. I sat down next to her with the incense but then had a thought. I moved the burning herbs away from her and brushed her hair out of her eyes, which were half-open. I wasn't worried. It would take another thirty minutes before she was conscious enough to be a problem.

"Hey, pretty thing," I whispered in her ear.

Her body jerked away from me but went limp again.

"G'away… fra… me," the poor thing slurred.

"No, I don't think so," I murmured allowing my fingers to travel feather light up and down her neck.

She shivered and whimpered, "Daddy…"

Don't get me wrong. I wasn't going to force myself on her while she was unconscious. I wonder if it makes me more or less perverted… preferring an alert victim as opposed to unconscious.

She was just so vulnerable.

I loved it.

I loved the fact that she was awake enough to know that I could do anything I wanted to her and she wasn't awake enough to stop me should I choose to do so. There was fear bubbling unbidden into her mind. All the things she feared lay out before my eyes…

"Now, now. Daddy, can't save you," I whispered.

I smiled as her fear intensified and she tried to roll away from me and failed. She just didn't have the energy. She began to cry. I chuckled at the ridiculous human response.

"Mum," she pleaded pitifully, "help…"

"So sorry, dearie. But mummy doesn't even know you're gone."

The tears came heavier. I sighed. This would get old fast. I slid the bowl near her head and wafted the smoke toward her nose. I got to my feet. I wanted to have a little fun.

"Oh, Maddie, darling?" I called, following the sound of her heartbeat.

She turned and looked at me curiously with an armful of leather-bound books.

"I think I'm going to go play with our new friends. Need anything while I'm out?"

She frowned.

"I need you to not get caught," Madelyn snapped an me.

That's right. You just want me around until the ritual is complete. To serve and protect. I chuckled at her. Stupid human.

Ah, well, she could have her way until I got sick of her.

"I'll be fine and I'll be back."

She shrugged her shoulders and turned her back to me. The cocky little witch. My fingers began to curl into claws but then I changed my mind. If she succeeded, she could become a lot more interesting.

I turned to leave and heard call over her shoulder, "Have fun."

_I'm planning on it._

* * *

><p><strong>Jacob POV<strong>

I was swearing in my frustration. I wasn't the only one. Leah, Seth and Embry… they'd all dropped the F-bomb on more than one occasion tonight. Not to mention, the faint echoes of profanities leaking through Kaleb's link with Leah from his brothers. Then there was Kaleb's profanities themselves. Leah imprinted on a man with a very colorful vocabulary.

The bloodsucker torched Tom's house. Attacked Josh. We hadn't called the fire department yet because: One, no amount of water would save the house. It was ash before the match touched down. Two, firefighters running around would make it harder for four vampires, four shape-shifters, and seven Skinwalkers to run around in their various forms trying to catch a sadistic vampire with the power to manipulate illusions based on fear.

Trying would be the optimum word there. The freak was screwing with us. Big time. Crisscrossed paths with loops and u-turns led everywhere. That's why we were all cussing in time to our frustration. The monster was very good at being a monster. How long would it be until another body showed up?

It was easy in La Push. Patrol the area and protect the people. It's not like that now. The people taken by this threat were taken from places far away. We have to try to catch him after he's done the deed we exist to prevent. Except for tonight that is. Burning Tom's house. Attacking Josh. He was declaring war. Unfortunately, he was getting away with it.

"Edward! Esme! Jasper!" Emmett's shout rose into the gloomy night from the west.

Human ears wouldn't have heard him, not from this far away. My ears flicked to the south, toward the burning house. That's where the call was coming from but why was he calling them in?

_I'm going to check in with the Cullens. See what's up._

They didn't respond, but they all heard and acknowledged me. No one was sparing the attention needed to answer. We were focusing tonight and they had their assignments.

I turned back toward where the column of smoke was rising silently into the night. I guess that's both the good and the bad about living in the middle of nowhere. On the one hand, no neighbors to report "suspicious" activities. On the other hand, there were no neighbors to report suspicious activities.

I heard footsteps drawing closer to me and caught Esme's scent. The smell of smoke mixed with vampire was almost more than my wolf nose could stand. If she detected me, she didn't say. Silently we sped through the woods toward the fire.

I stopped at the tree line to yank on my pants and stepped out into the yard.

Emmett was standing there with Edward. Esme was just joining them.

"Where's Jasper?" I demanded looking at Edward.

He cocked his head a little before answering, "Half a minute out."

Thirty seconds later Jasper was sliding to a stop.

"What's going on? Emmett?" Esme asked.

"This is stupid, the vampire is long gone. He's fast and he's smart. Clearly these are his dumping grounds not his hunting grounds."

I snorted. "And that?" I gestured at the flames. "Does that look like _dumping?_"

Emmett was talking about this so calmly. It pissed me off. It reminded me why Tom and his pack were so hesitant to accept their help in the first place.

"That's harsh Jacob," Edward rebuked me. "He is trying to help."

"_That_, is a warning, I would think." Esme intervened nodding to the house. Or what was left of it.

"I think we should be setting traps for him." Emmett drew attention back to himself.

"What do you have planned?" I asked.

Emmett frowned. I almost hit him. Clearly, he hadn't thought this far in advance.

"Brilliant, Emmett," I snapped at him.

"Jacob!" Edward growled in a tone that clearly meant, "shut up."

I would have yelled at him except he was staring intently at Jasper who was staring intently at the flames.

"Jasper?" I asked.

He spun about to face us. "I don't think it's a warning, Esme. In war, a soldier doesn't just go behind enemy lines by himself to give a _warning_. He could be caught for the sake of a message. It's stupid. If you want to send a message, you have to do something, not just drastic, but something that has to be _found_. You sneak behind enemy lines and do something drastic when you want your counter-combatant concentrating somewhere in particular, or rather, when you don't want them to notice the army advancing on its gates…"

Huh?

"A diversion," Edward answered my unasked question.

Then Edward snarled viciously and spun to face the trees, sinking into a crouch and looked upward. We all followed suit as a cold voice issued from the top of a tree.

"Very good, at least one of you has a brain." He hopped a branch lower, but showed no signs of attacking. His red eyes seemed… _playful_.

"Jasper, is it? I bet you're fun…" He hissed with a big grin stretched across his face. Then in a casual voice, like he was asking for the weather forecast, "Oh, Eddie Boy, what's the difference between reality and fiction?"

"Get him!" Jasper snarled but as he went to make the leap, a scream of pure terror suddenly filled the air.

We had all been preparing to strike, but the sound stopped us all in shock. The heat in my chest that had been gathering to thrust my body into another shape, vanished. In spite of ourselves, we all froze, looking for the source of the noise and our eyes landed on Edward. His face had twisted into an almost unrecognizable mask, one of horror and agony. The wordless scream continued.

"Edward!" Esme shrieked. "Edward! What's wrong?"

Jasper was shouting too. "Edward, it's not real! Edward, calm down, you need to calm down!"

"RENESMEE! NO, NO, NO, RENESMEE! NOOOO!" Edward was screaming louder still.

"Jasper!" Emmett shouted.

"I'm trying!" Jasper yelled back, panic on his features as his gift struggled and failed to contain Edward's fear.

Edward fell silent, lurched forward a little, and then froze. His hands grabbed at his chest like he was struggling to pull an invisible knife from his heart and let out a quieter cry of pain. Then he began screaming again, only the words had changed. "BELLA! BELLA! NOOOO, NOT BELLA! PLEEEASE! BELLAAAA!" The screams died in his throat with a strange sort of gurgle. He gasped twice, loudly, and then all breathing seemed to shut off entirely.

His head whipped back and forth a dozen times in under a second. His eyes landed on the flames. I realized what he was about to do a fraction of a second before he did it. Before I could react, Edward was in motion. He was running, running as fast as his legs could carry him, straight toward the fire.

"Someone catch him!" I shouted.

But Edward was too fast for his own good.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Even as we began to give chase we knew it was over. He was too fast, he had a head start, and he was too close to the fire. We watched in horror as Edward leapt into the air, nothing but a pale screaming blur, a leap that would land him in the center of the fire that would be his final resting place.

Suddenly a howl drowned out Edward's screaming. There was a giant flash of silver fur, the sound of crunching bone, and a yelp of pain. Leah had hurtled out of the woods at top speed and launched herself into Edward's path. The two of them, both screaming with different kinds of pain, fell to the ground in a tangle.

Emmett grabbed Edward away from Leah and locked his body around Edward's, preventing him from taking a second try. Leah who had temporarily fallen silent was now letting out a yowl. I turned immediately to see her fur had caught fire. She was desperately trying to drag herself away, but the collision with Edward did too much damage to allow for an easy escape.

I didn't hesitate. Neither did Esme or Jasper. The two of them ran to her, they managed to throw her body away from the inferno. I phased without thinking it through, using my bulk to push hers to the ground, smothering the flames beneath us. The smell of burning fur and flesh nauseated me.

I was crying out in pain too. The consequences of a mind link. Her pain was now mine, and I tried to separate myself from it.

_Jacob!_ She screamed in her head.

_I'm here! You're alright; you're going to be alright!_ I screamed back at her.

A wordless moan rippled through her brain into mine. Chaos was both inside my mind and out. Voices. So many voices.

_Damn it, Leah Clearwater! I forbid you to not recover! That's an order! _I growled at her.

"Snap out of it Edward!" Esme was shouting. "Snap out of it! It's not real!"

_Leah! Leah! I'm coming!_ Seth was screeching.

_Leah! _Kaleb's shout was echoed by a roar somewhere out in the night.

_Leah! _Embry switched course.

Edward's sobs surrounded us.

They were coming in. It took me moment to figure out what needed to be done.

I phased back. "Jasper!"

He whipped around to look at me.

"This is your expertise! The pack is coming in, should I send them after the vamp or not?"

He growled. "Catch him. He's alone."

I phased back as Jasper turned and darted through the trees beginning the hunt.

_Jake, no! _Embry was appalled.

_She's my sister!_ So was Seth.

_I know who she is! Catch the bloodsucker and you can spend as much time as you want with her! Leah, are you-_

_Go, Jacob,_ she interrupted anticipating my question. _Kill the bastard._

I leapt to my feet and lurched after Jasper.

A bear roared. There was a scream of surprise.

Kaleb caught up with the vampire.

We got to where they were and hesitated to join the fight. Kaleb and the leech were fighting, but they were too close together and moving too fast, to safely join in. Nobody who saw this would ever mistake Kaleb for a true black bear. He moved with a lethal grace that would make any wildcat jealous. Jasper circled about to block the creature's retreat; I crouched waiting for an opening.

Then we weren't alone. Slowly, Seth, Embry, and Kaleb's kinship began slinking through the trees. The body positions on my friends and family were quite clear. Everyone wanted a chance to sink their teeth into this menace.

If the bloodsucker felt impending death he didn't show it. Instead he laughed in time with Kaleb's enraged roar. Then Kaleb's roar ceased and he fell to the ground snarling and twitching. I didn't need a mind link to know what happened when members of his kindred began freaking out too.

I leapt but I wasn't the only one. Jasper and Seth moved too. He didn't have a chance to turn his caustics power on anyone else. My jaws wrapped around his legs as Seth latched on to an arm. Jasper wrapped his lithe limbs around the stranger's torso and crushed, as his teeth sliced through the monster's neck. The screech of steel skin being ripped apart, sliced through the night.

_I know a fire that would be perfect for him,_ Tom's furious voice echoed in my head.

I couldn't agree more. We gathered what was left of the leech and headed back toward the house. I phased back and flung my burden into the flames before yanking on my pants and acknowledging the scene around me.

Leah was now in her human form, covered by Emmett's shirt. Esme was crouching next to her, on a cell phone talking too fast to be intelligible to my ears. Edward had stopped trying to kill himself but he was looking shaken up as he used a tree to support himself into a standing position. Slowly the rest of the shape shifters returned to human.

I caught the look on Tom's face. The fire was reflected in his eyes and his face was somber as he watched the fire finish off what was left of his house. He gave up his home to catch the bloodsucker. He lost everything except his life. It was a heavy price to pay but it gave me some insight into his character and I felt profound respect for him. No wonder he was a cop. He would do anything to keep others safe.

"Jacob," Esme called my attention, "Carlisle is on his way; we'll meet him at the house." She gently scooped up Leah and headed to the car. It looked slightly comical, Esme was taller than most women but still short in comparison to Leah, and yet here she was attempting to cradle Leah like an infant.

"Seth, go with them, we'll meet you there," I said, knowing Seth would be anxious at being left behind.

He shot me a grateful glance as he helped Esme slide Leah into the backseat.

* * *

><p>Everyone met up back at the house and I do mean everyone. Twelve shape shifters and eight vampires made for a very crowded house. Leah had been laid out on the very sturdy dining room table. Carlisle assured us that Leah's burns were already healing, but he couldn't predict whether or not there would be any scarring. Leah's bones had tried to repair themselves, and Kaleb and I had the job of keeping her calm while Carlisle re-broke and reset her left arm, shoulder, and collarbone. She managed not to phase but she issued a stream of vulgarities at Carlisle that made <em>me<em> blush.

Edward was clutching tightly to Bella who was running her hands over his face trying to reassure him that she was alive and well.

Well, she was as alive as a creature with no pulse can be.

When Carlisle was finished he injected Leah with a painkiller and I knew he was secretly happy to be able to do this. He was still experimenting with what medical treatments worked best for werewolves and thanks to the catastrophe he was getting a live subject. The freak. At least he wasn't rude enough to say it out loud.

Rosalie was glaring around the room and I was sure at one point I heard her mutter something about, "the smell," but I couldn't be sure. Emmett was standing with his arm around her shoulders, his eyes glued to her face. I couldn't tell if he was grateful to have her in his arms or if he was willing her to keep her mouth shut. Personally, I thought Emmett could have done better.

"Leah?" Edward said approaching the table.

She lolled her head to the side and peered at him through one eye.

"I owe you my life," he said softly.

She opened her other eye and frowned at him. "I just saved your life, I'd appreciate it if you didn't try and pay me with it."

He gave a humorless chuckle. "Even so, I owe you. If you ever need anything…"

"There is something I need, Edward."

I gasped. Did she just refer to him… _by name_?

"Name it," he said.

"Keep your freaky sister away from my wedding."

He laughed. "I'll see what I can do."

"Good, 'cause before anything else happens I have a few wedding related announcements to make," she said.

Alice flitted into the room her face all alert and excited. "What is it Leah? Do I get to do the bridesmaids' dresses after all?"

Leah ignored Alice. "Firstly, I would like to ask Seth to walk me down the aisle and give me away."

"Oh, Leah! Of course I will!" Seth gasped. Sissy. He looked like he could cry.

"Secondly, Kaleb and I have decided to write our own vows."

"Romantic," Esme murmured.

Leah shifted uncomfortably and Kaleb grabbed her hand, "Are you in pain?" He whispered.

"No," she whispered back and took a deep breath.

Then she looked at Alice a little warily. "Alice, I appreciate all the help you have given me, but there will be no bridesmaid dresses… at all."

Alice looked confused. "I don't understand."

"There is going to be a little break in tradition." She took another deep breath and said, "I will not be having bridesmaids."

"I don't understand," Alice repeated.

"Jacob," Leah looked at me now. "Would you do me the honor of standing by my side as my Friend of Honor?"

I gasped. Was she serious?

I could see by her face she was.

What could I say?

"Wh-What?" Alice stuttered out incredulous. She couldn't believe it either.

My lips were moving without my permission but I didn't care. "Of course, Leah, it would be an honor… but why me?"

"You've always been there for me, Jake, even when you didn't have to be. Even when I didn't deserve it."

Okay. I was a sissy too. I tried to hold in the emotion that was threatening to overflow.

"What?" Alice asked again and again, Leah ignored her.

"Also, Embry, I would like to ask that you stand with me as well. In place of a bridesmaid I would like a brother."

"Sweet! Thanks, Leah!" Embry had no issue holding it together. "I'm in the wedding party, yes!" He hooted.

"_What?_" Alice practically shouted, finally managing to capture our attention.

But it was too late. The poor thing looked to be more than halfway to a meltdown.

"But Leah… tradition… I mean it'll look all wrong… there'll be too many men up there… it has to be even… I don't… please…" Alice's little pointy face was creased with more wrinkles than I'd ever seen on anybody.

I was witnessing a vampire have a meltdown. It was surprisingly fascinating.

"Alice, calm down," Jasper said reaching out a hand to her but she leapt away from his contact.

"Calm down! How can I? She's ruining the wedding! Leah! Leah, see reason! Don't make decisions on traumatic experiences!"

"I made this decision a week ago." Leah contradicted.

Shorty stiffened and her eyes widened. It looked like she was holding her breath. She rocked back and forth on her heels and went from holding her breath to hyperventilating.

"What?… But… Tradition…" She continued to babble unintelligibly for a few more seconds then she snarled and pushed her way through the crowded house to the door. We all flinched as it slammed shut. The pitter patter of her tiny feet could be heard disappearing into the woods as she ran to take her frustrations out on some poor unsuspecting deer.

"I think she took the news well." Evan said breaking the silence.

We all turned to look at him.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, she _is_ a vampire. She could have sucked our blood."

Jasper sighed and left to go comfort his distraught wife.

Not five minutes later there was a crash in the kitchen. It was then that I realized Bella was missing. Or had been missing. She appeared in the room her face panicked.

"Has anyone heard from Renesmee?" She blurted out her eyes glancing wildly from face to face.

Edward spun about. "You were talking to her earlier right?"

I opened my mouth to give him a positive answer, but stopped short.

_I_ had texted _her._

Did she ever respond?

I yanked out my phone and turned it on. No new messages.

"She was supposed to be going to Tara's-" Esme began.

"I was just on the phone with Tara! I called to see if they could send her home! She never showed up!"


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"_Has anyone heard from Renesmee?"_

_No new messages._

"_She never showed up!"_

Just like that, my world came crashing down. The love of my life had been stolen out from under my nose. She was gone. Missing. Somewhere not here.

I realized there were people talking, but everybody's voices were suddenly far away and the words were indistinct. Like when you're a kid and you duck your head underwater when your parents come to tell you to get out of the tub… All you hear is "blah blah blah…"

Nessie. My Nessie. My imprint. My love. My fiancée.

Gone.

Someone was calling my name but I didn't care.

My body was starting to tremble but it didn't matter.

She mattered.

"_Oh, Eddie Boy, what's the difference between reality and fiction?"_

That's what the leech had said. It was clear Edward's greatest fear was losing his family. What's the difference between reality and fiction? Very little.

That's it. He knew. The leech knew! That's why he asked that asinine question in the first place. The leech was… dead. He could have given us information. Nessie was gone and now we had no way to find her.

The room started shaking. Earthquake, maybe?

Why was it so hot in here? I can't breathe.

Suddenly there were arms around me dragging me backwards. I let them drag me. Didn't really matter. All that mattered was that she was gone and now there was pain ripping apart my soul.

I fell backward into snow before my body erupted in flames and body transformed into the beast. I poured every emotion into the sound that ripped through my teeth, my hurt, my love, my grief, my loathing, my rage, and it all created a sound that was more roar than howl.

One thought bounced around inside the agony caused by the lowly theft of my gravity; _Kill._

I don't know how long I stood there in the snow making that sound, but when I was out of breath and emotion to pour into it, I stopped. I shivered, cold for the first time in a long time, and rational thought came back to me. I switched forms immediately.

I didn't care that there was a very large group of people staring at me in all my naked glory. I only cared about one thing now.

"We're getting her back," I growled, leaving no room for debate.

But what I really wanted to say and didn't, the unspoken thought of: _Kill the witch_, still burned there in my mind and Edward nodded. It was a short nod, subtle, and I wouldn't have seen it if he wasn't standing directly in my line of sight.

I could see the unexpressed rage and hatred simmering and in his blackening eyes. And under the raw emotion, a cool understanding of what now had to be done and why.

It was more than the bonds of brotherhood running between us. It was more than his love for his daughter, my love for my imprint, our love for Nessie. It was more than doing what was right or correcting what was wrong or protecting those who couldn't protect themselves. It was all that mixed with something else entirely. It was all that mixed with a factor only Rosalie seemed brave enough to voice.

Low and dangerous, her musical voice became the world's quietest, most frightening, most exquisite battle cry. "Nobody fucks with our family."

Nobody seemed inclined to disagree with her.

* * *

><p>Alice and Jasper had returned when they heard my cry of… whatever it was, so we didn't have to drag them back. We had been sitting around for over an hour, debating strategy and plans. I had all been for acting now but was overruled. The fact was we had killed our only solid link to the witch. Whether I liked it or not we needed a plan.<p>

Alice had been quiet throughout the discussion and quiet was unusual for Alice. Her face was all scrunched up as if she had a headache again. I knew she felt bad that she hadn't seen this coming and once I had Nessie back safe in my arms I'd apologize for all the mean things I've said to her regarding her lack of foresight.

As if she were the one reading my thoughts instead of Edward, she spoke, interrupting Carlisle.

"This is why I couldn't see," she spoke quietly.

"What do you mean Alice?" Jasper answered.

"I thought I was blind because the bears intertwined their destinies with the witch's, but it was never the bears. It was Nessie. Nessie is the one. I can't see her…"

Made sense. Everyone else must have thought the same because no one else spoke. Fat load of good that information did us now.

Tom broke the silence. "Why would this witch want Renesmee? I thought she was after children?" He wasn't really asking anyone but himself but he got an answer anyway.

"She is a child!" Bella screeched, turning away and punching the wall so hard her arm sank into up to the elbow. "She doesn't look it but that's what she is!"

She turned back and retracted her fist, a mixture of dry wall and insulation crumbling to the floor behind her.

"She's a child, for Christ sakes! My child." Bella's eyes flicked to mine and, even though they were black as pitch with emotion and thirst, they pleaded with me, like I was missing something critical. "She's only seven years old." She whimpered.

Edward wrapped his arms around her, whispered, "Love…" and she began sobbing into his chest. Above her bent head, where she couldn't see the look on his face, his expression took on a whole new look. His eyes, now cold and calculating were set in a wrathful grimace. Yeah. Now he looked like a vampire.

* * *

><p><strong>Nessie POV<strong>

_My head hurts. My face, too. And something smells. Why can't I open my eyes? Am I even awake?_

That's when I knew I was in trouble. When you can't tell conscious from unconscious, something is seriously wrong.

Jacob's looking at me. Stroking my cheek now. Feels nice. And then it doesn't feel nice. Now it's not Jacob at all, but some short woman with ugly boots. Rosalie and Alice would pay to have those boots stolen from that woman and burned in the hottest pyre money can buy.

Rosalie hinted that tonight's surprise was Jacob proposing to me.

"_The mutt's got big plans for you tonight, Nessie," she snorted half disgusted and half amused. "Whatever he asks, make sure you think it through. No matter what happens, we can afford the best divorce attorneys so don't worry." Rosalie acted all disgusted by Jacob and his family but I'm beginning to think she's just holding on to a habit now._

"_Aunt Rose, I think you're ruining my surprise." I laughed._

"_Oh please. He isn't exactly subtle." She was grinning now. "You know what he's going to ask tonight…"_

_She had me there. I grinned back. "Still… we should let him have his fun…"_

That conversation was real. I know that. That conversation happened.

"_The dress, Leah!" Alice was shouting from her built up anticipation._

"_White, I want a white dress…." Leah began detailing her dream wedding gown to satisfy Alice._

Did that happen? Did Leah really agree to let Alice help her with a wedding? Unlikely. I'll place that in the _maybe it happened _pile.

So I know I was awake at least until Leah showed up on the doorstep.

That's progress.

The lady with the fugly footwear… real or imaginary?

I have no clue.

What do I know for a fact is fiction?

I know for a fact that the leprechauns were fake. Somebody would have told me if leprechauns existed. The leprechauns were definitely fake.

And before that, there was a voice.

"_Hey pretty thing," the voice was playful but the words were cold._

_I couldn't see him but I knew he was there. He was too close to me; he didn't have permission to come so close._

_I tried to tell him to go away but my lips felt like rubber._

_Fingers on my neck, trailing downwards… No! He's touching me, he can't touch me!_

_My dad is so gonna rip him a new one._

"_Now, now, Daddy can't save you…"_

_Did I say that out loud?_

_His voice is no longer playful, it's cruel. Cruel and cold. Cold voice, cold words, cold fingers…_

Holy crap! That was real. That happened! That was a memory.

_Cold fingers…_

Vampire. A vampire had me. That was more progress made.

Now I just need to remember how to open my eyes…

I inhaled deeply with frustration and immediately regretted it as a funky perfume punished my head.

That smell.

Was it always there?

Regardless, it won't go away. It reeks, it makes my head spin which in turn makes my stomach flip, and constantly inhaling the dry flavor is making my throat ache.

My brain was fuzzy and that wasn't normal. It took me too long to figure out I was being held captive by a vampire… what was I going to think?

It was important…

Right. My supernatural brain wasn't functioning the way it should.

That right there was important.

Why is that important?

My mind might be slowing, but it's not broken completely. It was still performing multiple tasks at once… While I've been pondering… What was I pondering?

Well, while I was pondering _something_, I had located my eyelids. I could feel my lashes resting against the skin of my cheek… _How had I never noticed the way it tickles before?_ But I still couldn't convince my eyes to open. That wasn't normal either. That was important too.

Why were these facts important?

My God does that smell bad… Oh.

Somehow, common sense and survival instincts broke through the haze to connect three seemingly random dots.

My fuzzy brain. My locked lids. The smell.

Eliminate the smell.

What smell?

_That _smell.

Focus, Renesmee. Your life is in danger otherwise you'd be sporting some kind of rock on your finger by now. And while you're at it, stop talking to yourself in the third person. It's just a short skip from third person referral to serial killing.

Cereal. That stuff is gross.

Like the smell. The smell that I'm supposed to get away from…

_FML._


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

**Jacob POV**

That Tom Scott was a good man. If I had ever had reason to doubt his character, it was gone now. He was clearly unsure about this new alliance with vampires, but his hatred of the kid-killer had been enough that he swallowed his mythical-manly-man pride to ask for help. And now that we needed his help in return, he was full heartedly reciprocating even if he wasn't entirely comfortable around us.

He sacrificed his home to protect innocent lives and now he was about to risk his career to save my family.

He had left for a few hours per Carlisle's request to steal copies of the Medical Examiners Reports, Police Reports, and any other documents connected to the case that might give us a clue as to where the witch was hiding out. The downside was stealing from a police station isn't like in the movies. Time was of the essence, which means we couldn't do any of that cool and incredibly useful spy stuff, like cutting off the surveillance cameras, subduing guards in an inconspicuous manner, doctoring sign-out sheets… In other words, if Tom got caught he could get shit-canned.

People, mythical or not, aren't usually so selfless.

Our family unit - now consisting of a pack of shape shifters, vegetarian vampire coven, and a skinwalker kinship - was strengthening. Even as I felt myself disintegrating with worry, becoming more useless with each passing second Nessie remained missing, I could see how they pulled together in the crisis, putting aside suspicions and differences for the safety of the whole.

When Nessie was safe, I was going to let out my inner girl and tell all of them just how proud I was to call them family.

Jasper's military experience seemed to leave him harboring a secret, paranoia-addled survivalist complex. This now was coming in handy because he had had Esme convert the basement into some high-tech lair after that Jenks guy died of a heart attack. Jasper said that the man had had high cholesterol, but something about the judgmental looks Bella had been giving him told me that Jasper might not have been a hundred percent honest. Rather than try to find another Jenks, Jasper decided to take our less than legal matters into his own hands. Once he had the computers, printers, scanners… he just kept going.

Jasper was down in his hideout with Terry and Billy. It turns out Terry Browning was going to college for computer science; an area that he had excelled in before he entered any formal training program. Terry had graciously offered to help my Dad down into the computer room/ bunker and found himself in some kind of computer nerd wet dream. Jasper had asked Billy to help him with some schematics. Marking maps. Tracking where children were taken from, where they were found. That kind of thing.

Rosalie, Emmett and Mike were doing reconnaissance work. If the witch was using this area as her own personal cemetery, she couldn't be too far. And she'd need supplies. Rosalie, Emmett and Mike had managed to compose a list of stores that specialized in that kind of thing. Even though she wasn't an empath, there wasn't much a person wouldn't tell Rosalie once she turned on her charm. Emmett went with her to soothe his own worried mind more than anything else. The thing with Edward encountering Simon had bothered him; then to find out Nessie was gone… He wasn't taking his eyes off his mate if he didn't have to.

Mike Swift had taken the other half of the list. He wasn't the kind of person who panicked in an emergency; he was the one who had dragged my ass out of the house when he realized I was going to phase. He was, according to Alice, handsome enough to finagle information out of any female salesclerk and his laidback nature would make him patient enough to talk his way past any suspicious male.

Had I been in a better mood, I might have come up with a clever joke about Rosalie visiting a store for witches.

Josh, Evan and Lucas, Seth, Leah, Kaleb, Alice and Bella were out scouring the woods. Not that we had expected them to find anything more, but Josh didn't like the idea of leaving the area unguarded. It was unprecedented for a human to have a vampire as a personal assistant and he was worried that the leech we killed might not have been alone. Josh took the remaining bears with him; Leah followed Kaleb and Seth followed Leah. Alice and Bella joined the hunting party. Bella couldn't sit still and if other vampires were involved, her gift would be an asset. Alice's gift was leaving her frustrated and angry; hunting for evildoers in the woods was just an excuse for her to hit something.

Carlisle was in his office pacing a hole in the carpet. He had had experience with witches, but he couldn't offer help with this witch until he got his hands on those files. He had dropped his human façade completely, which was abnormal for him. I couldn't see him, but I could hear his footsteps going from point A to point B and back at a humanly impossible rate.

Esme, like Emmett, wasn't crazy about going to far from her partner so she put herself to use in other ways. She was in the kitchen cooking a feast for an army; not that we wouldn't be able to eat it, but I was sure in her mind that was exactly what we had become. Her granddaughter was taken: an act of war.

Edward and I had taken up residence on the back porch. He wasn't expecting anyone to find anything in the woods and figured with his medical background and his experiences rooting around in the minds of others, that he might be more useful here, helping Carlisle or Jasper. But neither one of them had needed his help just yet.

And me?

I was here because I wasn't thrilled with the plans that had been set in motion. Plans that left me with nothing to do but sit uselessly by and allow my hatred to simmer. But they'd all agreed that in my "emotional state" I might not be completely qualified for interrogating hippie store clerks, operating expensive equipment, or sharing a mind link.

I glanced at Edward. I couldn't tell if he was listening to my never-ending monologue. He was standing still with his back to me. He hadn't changed his body position, spoken a word, or even taken a breath since we'd come outside to wait. He followed me out here. I felt a twinge of bitterness at that. The Ice King probably thought I needed babysitting to keep from doing something stupid. Like I'd really be so reckless with Renesmee's life.

"Ice King? Ouch," Edward spoke; he didn't move to look at me, and his voice was inflectionless. "I came outside because I can hear Bella when she lets me. And if anyone needs babysitting, it's me."

I stared at the back of his head.

Mr. Control needed babysitting?

One very hollow laugh escaped his lips. Then he turned his body enough so that he could see me. His eyes were black as pitch and they seemed to look through me rather than at me. I shivered under his gaze and he grinned without humor.

"Mr. Control?" He repeated. "I don't think you realize how close I am to losing it Jacob. I'd like to burn every inch of forest until the last fleck of ash extinguishes and there is nowhere left for the bitch to hide her carnage. How I'd like to storm into all those shops that Em and Rose are visiting and torture the truth out of the people who work in them. As far as I'm concerned they're guilty of aiding and abetting and deserve whatever pain they receive." Edward's teeth clacked together and he leaned forward like he wanted to strike me down in their place.

A low growl escaped his clenched teeth and I could see his jaw muscles flexing under his pale skin. "I want to find the human foolish enough to entertain the idea of hurting my baby girl and I want to wrap my fingers around those fragile limbs and squeeze until they crack. I want her to experience the terror and pain she inflicted on those babies and then I want to tear her throat to watch the life slowly drain away until the light leaves her eyes… Don't talk to me about control. I have little to spare." Edward turned away from me again.

I felt a flash of pleasure at the image his words had created in my head. I was revolted and intrigued all at once. I imagined inflicting the pain myself. Instead of Edward's pale fingers snapping fragile limbs, they were mine… I could do it. Physically, I was able.

But part of me wondered if I crossed that line, no matter how good the immediate gratification might be, would I regret it later?

I had never imagined torturing anyone before and couldn't come up with anything cleverer than the torture that Edward had already proposed… But I'd never wanted to hurt anyone before, not like that. I never imagined I'd have a reason to want to hurt someone. Would I be able to do it?

_Yes,_ whispered in the back of my mind.

I was human enough to admit that that scared me.

Edward had listened to darkest of human minds, hunted them down. How much of that imagery was his alone, how much had been inspired by the deranged thoughts of the darkest minds he'd touched?

I was glad he'd gone back to silence.

There were some questions I didn't want answered.

We were both standing as still as death, out on the back porch when we heard Tom pull up and a car door slam.

I glanced at Edward.

He wasn't showing any signs of moving.

He was right. What was the point? I probably wouldn't understand the information in the files and I wasn't in the mood to study pictures of dead children.

Once was enough.

I closed my eyes and listened as Esme let Tom inside and directed him toward Carlisle who had finally stopped pacing. Tom's footsteps up the stairs; heavy footsteps that ascended steps two at a time. Carlisle mumbling an ineloquent thank you before sitting down at his desk. His dismissal of Tom must have been silent or nonexistent for I now heard tired sounding footsteps coming back down the stairs.

The glass door slid open and he stepped out to join us.

"Did it go alright?" I asked, turning to face him.

He shrugged. "It's done."

"Did it go alright?" I asked again.

Tom sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Nobody tried to stop me. Nobody asked for the lies I prepared myself to tell. But I'm sure the security cameras got a great view of my backside when I ran off the copies."

So he didn't know if he was in trouble.

"Thank you," I said honestly. "I know what this might cost you…"

"As long as I don't end up in a prison cell, I'm okay with it."

I raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Jacob, we all have loved ones. Yours are unconventional, but I get it." Tom eyeballed Edward's back as he spoke. "I haven't met my imprint yet, but I feel Josh's bond to his Camille, Kaleb to Leah…" He stopped when he noticed the look on my face.

Then his eyes widened and he laughed. "Josh." He repeated the name as he pointed out his own slip. "Yes, we haven't been very forthcoming with our own personal lives, have we? I admit that was my order. Until I was sure you could be trusted, I didn't want you to have anything or anyone you could use…"

"And you've decided you can trust us?" I asked.

"I believe so."

We faded to quiet for a moment.

My thoughts shifted to Nessie; where was she, what was being done to her?

My girl was tough; with the vampire out of the equation, I knew her chances were better than anybody's. I had to believe we could find her if she couldn't escape and if she could escape, she'd find us. But despite the optimism I was trying to cling to, another image invaded my mind.

A photograph.

But this photo was freshly printed and held a face we hadn't seen yet.

Nessie's face. I imagined her face forever frozen in fear, a final testament to whatever horror show she'd been forced to endure in her final moments. Her rosy cheeks without their glow, her creamy complexion grayed; the wound in her neck grisly reminder…

_Crack_.

As the sound ripped into the air a warm hand touched my shoulder.

Edward was now staring at me, the porch railing he had ripped from its fittings, crumbling in his hands.

"I did not need that vision Jacob!" Edward yelled at me.

My whole body shook.

I didn't think I could stop it.

"Jacob. Focus," Tom said quietly.

It was his hand on my shoulder.

"We will get her back. Falling apart won't help."

"And what will help!" I yelled at him. "I'm doing nothing! I'm just standing around while she's out there somewhere, probably afraid and possibly hurting!"

I wanted to hit him.

"It's my job to protect her and I'm, I'm…" And the fight went out of me.

Nessie was my everything and I couldn't even keep her safe.

"None of us could," Edward growled. "She's _my_ daughter Jacob Black. It was my job to keep her safe before it was yours. Blaming ourselves won't solve this nor will it help anyone to imagine what could happen if we fail. We will get her back. _Now_ we need patience. Later…" His voice drifted and I could imagine where his mind had gone.

How the hell could he be patient?

"I'm Mr. Control," he murmured with a smile that bordered on sinister.

There was another bang, this time from inside the house. Carlisle's footsteps rushed toward us; he flung the sliding door open with such force that the glass shattered.

"Carlisle?" I asked, the knot in my stomach twisting tighter.

It looked like more bad news was on the way.

"Are these medical reports accurate?" Carlisle's eyes flashed with urgency.

"Yes." Tom's answer came without hesitation.

Carlisle didn't explain, instead his eyes became vacant as he lost himself inside his own mind. For a brief moment, I wondered what vast place his mind must be; if vampires never forgot anything they experienced or learned and Carlisle was pushing four centuries… Then I saw the look of horror on Edward's face as he followed the Doc's train of thought.

"What?" I asked, but Carlisle didn't show signs of answering anytime soon.

"What!" I yelled at Edward.

"It's the blood work on the victims…" Edward mumbled as his marble forehead crinkled in concentration as he tried to keep up with Carlisle's thought process.

"I thought the victims were drained of blood?"

"They were," Tom interjected, "but there were trace amounts left over, enough for testing."

"What about it?"

"There was an extraordinary amount of adrenaline. Now knowing what we do, I think it's safe to assume that the vampire was probably using his ability to control the children. It would explain the adrenaline if he-"

"It's not about the adrenaline." Carlisle snapped. "It's about the toxicology report. The chemical compound, the one that the ME didn't recognize, it only appeared in two of the five victims. The second and the fourth. The adrenaline levels in those two were also significantly lower."

"What's the connection?" Tom asked.

"I recognize the compound."

"Carlisle…" Edward growled out.

"The vampire couldn't be around all the time. He'd need to feed eventually. Especially if the witch was spilling fresh blood in front of him. She'd need to keep the children quiet and subdued while he was gone…"

"Carlisle, out with it!" I yelled.

"Consider it a supernatural sedative."

A heartbeat of silence and then Tom asked the winning question.

"How do you know this?"

"Because I've used it."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

_Stay calm,_ I told myself as another tremor rippled through my core. _Stay calm and don't jump to any conclusions…_ I really wanted to jump to a conclusion right about now.

"What does that mean?" I ground out between clenched teeth. "What did you do?"

At my accusation a snarl ripped itself from Carlisle's own clenched teeth.

He moved before I could register the motion, the aggression in his posture took me so by surprise I had no time to defend myself. The same hands that healed the fragile bodies of human patients, now clasped the collar of my borrowed shirt, hoisted me up and slammed me against the side of the house.

"Don't," he hissed out. "Don't test me, Jacob Black; I am in no mood to be lectured on a subject of which you know nothing!"

The tremors were coming faster now as my instincts went to war with my mind. The call that my ancestors once answered, the duty to kill vampires indiscriminately no matter their diet, was urging me now to dispose of the danger before me. But my mind was processing what pure instinct could not; Carlisle was running on anger now and nothing else. He was not a fighter and, no matter how his rage manifested, he could not become one in the time it would take me to shift. If I phased now at the whim of nature, I wouldn't be able to stop myself… I'd kill him.

And I knew I'd always regret it.

Edward's hands were on Carlisle, prying the angry patriarch off of me before I could be pushed to a breaking point that could never be repaired. The fight went out of Carlisle as fast as it appeared.

"Jacob," he began an apology I didn't care to hear.

"S'fine, Doc," I said, trying to bring myself under control. "We're all stressed. Why don't you tell us what you know, since clearly you know more than us."

"You said you've used this…supernatural sedative?" Tom's inquiry was shaky and uncertain. His eyes darted between me and Carlisle like he was trying to figure out which one of us he'd be most obligated to protect.

"Yes, when I was with the Volturi-"

Tom asked, "The what?" just as a curse escaped my lips.

Why does every crisis with the Cullen family have to link back to those assholes?

"Jacob!" Edward chided me on my monologue.

_What? _I asked, silently. _Do you prefer bloodsucking, pompous, douche-bags who should do the world a favor and petrify themselves in their Italian crypts?_

He rolled his eyes at me; an act that would have been more effective if his eyes were not black.

"The Volturi are the rulers of our species; they make the laws and enforce them." Carlisle explained to Tom while ignoring mine and Edward's exchange.

"And bend them," I added angrily.

Carlisle sighed but nodded. "And bend them."

I could tell by the look on Tom's face that he was reeling from the news that vampires had a government system and wasn't about to prod for the real answers.

"Carlisle, what exactly did you do for the Volturi, and why did it include supernatural sedatives that would eventually be used in the kidnapping of my imprint?"

His eyes flashed defensively but he didn't attack me this time so things were looking up.

"When I met up with Volturi - as appalled and amused as they were by my diet -they were intrigued by my knowledge. Once I had gotten my urges under control, I'd dedicated myself to studying sciences, medicine yes, but medicine was primitive then compared to now… The Volturi extended me an invitation to join their coven as their only resident scientist. An invitation I accepted."

I groaned and rubbed my forehead with frustration. "I'm guessing they didn't want you to explain where babies come from?"

"No, they wanted me to study the affects of what was then modern day medicine on the vampire physiology."

"What?"

"They wanted to know if human medicine could be used on or against vampires," Edward simplified, but he suddenly looked uncomfortable.

I switched my gaze back to Carlisle who was sporting a nice _I-wish-I-were-anywhere-but-here _expression on his face.

"I agreed, of course. Between my ambition and my isolation, the Volturi invitation was more than appealing and turning it down wasn't an option. They were civilized, they were cultured…"

"You were an idiot."

Carlisle flinched. "I was young and lonely, Jacob. The things they had me do, the things I did… I won't deny they were wrong. But right then, it didn't seem so bad. A little suffering now for the greater good later…" He shrugged nonchalantly, but the shame appeared in his eyes. "They were set to be killed anyway…"

"They?"

"My test subjects."

His answer came so quietly, if I hadn't been watching his lips move I would have missed it altogether.

"You experimented on living people?" Tom's voice displayed the horror that I felt.

"Vampires. Newborns and transgressors. It would have made no sense to experiment on humans if the whole point was to figure out how medicine would affect vampires and, as I sympathized more with humans than my own species, I wouldn't have agreed to it if I had been asked. Aro would not condone the use of volunteers; if the effects of medicine turned out to be negative, well, he wasn't willing to lose any of his prizes or allies." Carlisle gave a sharp laugh here. "The Volturi wanted the knowledge, but weren't willing to sacrifice themselves for it. Sadly, they haven't changed much."

"So you found a human medicine that worked on vampires?" It was my question this time; the unease in the pit of my stomach was growing with every word Carlisle spoke.

"Yes and no. In the beginning nothing had an effect, negative or otherwise. But I was being watched by more than just Aro, Cauis and Marcus. Jane and Alec were also taking a special interest in me… Eventually I confronted them. They laughed at my failed experiments until I demanded to know where the humor was…"

"Carlisle, please tell me you had more sense than to take the advice of those two sociopaths…"

"In their human lives," Carlisle continued as if I hadn't spoken, "they had been sentenced to death for the practice of witchcraft. I was the son of an Anglican pastor. The word of witches meant little to me, but it did make me curious.

"Jane and Alec told me of herbs they'd used in their _lifestyle_, herbs they'd used to treat or inflict illnesses… Some combinations that could kill or incapacitate a vampire. They spoke of the magic inside languages and how that language could be used to enhance a drug…"

"Of course I never spoke the incantations, but in the end it wasn't necessary. Even without the so called magic words, the chemical compounds proved themselves true."

"If you were having so much fun playing mad scientist what made you walk away?"

"In 1789, a newborn named Luciana came through my lab. She was coherent enough to be afraid. I tried to ease her fears by talking to her and she spoke to me in turn. That was the turning point for me. Not that she could speak, but what she told me when she did so. It became my understanding that the Volturi were handpicking humans, turning them vampire and then setting them loose. Without guidance from their makers, the newborns went feral, risked exposure, were recaptured and given to me."

"I had to wonder how many lives had been sacrificed to further my studies. How many had actually been offensive and how many had been unwitting victims. I told the Volturi I wasn't working for them anymore. I left the coven a year later."

I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with this information. My brain didn't seem equipped to process it. Carlisle Cullen, humanitarian of the century, had exploited his own race at the expense of another, in the name of furthering science? And not just any science, a science that wasn't even recordable in the grand scheme of things because humans weren't allowed such knowledge and vampires weren't in need of it. What was the point in the end? And what did any of this have to do with-

"Renesmee, and these two children before her, were dosed with a compound based on a sedative developed by witches, called _Somes Somnium Ingredior._"

"Why doesn't that name instill me with warm and fuzzies?"

"It's Latin. It loosely translates to Deadman's Dream Walk. On humans, prolonged exposure leads to unconsciousness, then coma, and eventually death."

"And on vampires?" Tom asked.

"It sends them into a trancelike and often hallucinatory state, leaving the lines between reality and fantasy blurred and the victim helpless for a time."

"On a hybrid?" I asked as Tom parroted, "For a time?"

Carlisle was quiet for a moment and when he spoke it was Tom's question he answered.

"The physiological design of a vampire allows it to be impervious to change; not just the change that comes with time, but changes that come with atmosphere. For example, a rock is always a rock… but if it falls in the ocean it might change shape and texture with salt and water erosion… Vampires aren't meant to erode, though under certain circumstances it can happen. Human antibodies survive the transition of human to vampire. But because vampires don't get sick, they aren't _needed_. When a chemical compound, like a Pagan potion, tries to erode vampiric internal system the antibodies will try to counteract the effects like they would a virus; first fighting it off and then building immunity."

I didn't understand why he looked so upset. "That's a good thing, right?"

Carlisle flinched. "It's not without side effects."

Edward's body went rigid again and my stomach plummeted.

"What are you leaving out? What will this drug do to Nessie?" I yelled.

"In theory, Nessie is human enough that the drug will knock her out, but she's got enough vampire in her that her antibodies will fight back… efficiently."

"Why is that bad news?"

Then, with an expression on his face like he was delivering bad news to a terminal patient, he told me the truth.

Tom gasped; he was quicker than me on the uptake. He understood almost immediately what Carlisle meant. It took me a few seconds longer to understand the full gravity of what I was hearing and then the horror landed in my already churning stomach like Ipecac.

I ran to the porch railing and threw up until my insides were empty and my intestines clenched painfully trying to eject contents that no longer existed. I tried to spit the sour taste from my mouth and then prepared myself to ask another question I was sure I didn't want the answer to.

"Carlisle? How much time does that give us?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry Jacob, but what research I have doesn't cover hybrids. You share the same DNA anomaly of-"

"-24 chromosomes." I finished for him.

"Right. And you burn through human medicine _faster _than humans. But I've never tested anything on you that wasn't FDA approved. And although you share that anomaly, you can't erase the fact that she was born to a vampire and a human, _not _a shape-shifter, and most chemicals are useless on vampires, and _this_ chemical compound is deadly to humans…"

"Please. You're killing me."

I needed him to shut up now. I didn't need to hear him tell me all the ways he didn't _know_.

If Nessie's resistance to drugs was like mine she'd be experiencing the so called side effects sooner than later. If she took after Edward, she might have more time. I didn't even consider the fact that she might take after Bella, in which case the most problematic side effect Nessie would be faced with was death. Nessie's death was not an option, not that the other options were so spectacular. But at least she'd survive them.

"Could you test me?"

Could Carlisle use this supernatural sedative on me to get a better idea of what might happen to her?

"Each recipe varies a little… I know the main components but I'd never get it exact…" He was stalling.

"It doesn't need to be exact, it just needs to give you a general idea," I pressed.

At least I'd be good for something. I wouldn't be standing on a porch idly waiting. I wouldn't be useless.

"It wouldn't be smart Jacob."

"Why? It could help."

"It could help. It could also kill you."

"You think I wouldn't die for her?" I yelled, stepping toward him, half tempted to throw him against the house.

There was a tense silence.

I wanted to fight, _anything_, but no one would argue and no one would speak.

Finally Carlisle did speak, "I know that you'd gladly lay down your life for hers. This isn't about bravery or devotion. This is about _finding_ her. You're no good to us, or her, comatose or dead. And if the worst were to happen to you, if we were to find her without you… Jacob, you probably understand the nature of imprinting better than she… Better than me. What do you think she'd do, if she came home and was greeted by your grave?"

_She'd die._


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

A vampire, a werewolf, a werebear sat on a sofa…

Numbly.

Carlisle was downstairs talking to Jasper; filling him in on our newest problem. And as I listened to the horrifying details for the second time, I was surprised to hear that neither Jasper nor Terry were surprised or worried.

In fact they had news that would be helpful. Luckily for us, the Wicca world had gone digital. Jasper had hacked into every stores' database while Terry designed a program that would sort through the inventory and sales list and identify which stores sold what, when and to whom. All they needed now was an ingredient list. Which conveniently, Carlisle had.

"Skullcap, passionflower, wormwood, and valerian," Carlisle ticked off. "Also there was a component I didn't recognize so don't be surprised if you find something else on the list…"

I heard either Terry or Jasper click clacking away on a keyboards as they entered the search criteria. Spider software, Terry called it, chuckling away at his own cleverness. Apparently it hadn't occurred to him that somebody's life was actually depending on his cleverness.

"It's occurred to him Jacob," Edward muttered.

_Get out of my head bloodsucker,_ I supplemented the thought with a growl.

"Stop thinking so much," he reached up and rubbed the crease between his eyes.

Before I could retort, the front door slammed and in walked Bella.

She walked in wordlessly, her eyes lighting first on Tom, then me, then lingering on Edward. She walked slowly toward him with heavy steps unbecoming for a vampire. I looked at her, really _looked_; Bella was supposed to be frozen forever at eighteen. But right now- with her eyes dark and sunken, her shoulders curled in, her heavy and slow gait- there was no other way to put it; she looked old.

Bella bent down rested her forehead against Edward's, ran her hands through his hair. He closed his eyes and hummed.

It irritated me.

Their grief was not a private one. It was shared by all. How dare they take comfort in their bond so openly when I had no one, which was of course the whole problem.

The irritation quelled as quickly as it had started.

I was being selfish and even I knew it.

I just wanted her back.

"How's it going, Love?" Edward asked quietly.

Bella snorted and pulled away, breaking their moment.

"How do you think its going?" she snapped.

He flinched.

"You and I both know we won't find anything in those woods! Its just busywork to keep our minds off the obvious!"

Obvious, like the only time we ever find something is when somebody winds up dead.

"Jacob…" Edward growled at me.

I shrugged.

"At least you can do busywork. I have to sit here with this jerk," I noted.

Bella looked at me then. She looked at me the way only she could look at me, like she was reading my mind without reading my mind. Like she was seeing not only what Edward could hear, but also what I refused to let myself think. The thoughts that simmered beneath the superficial bullshit like a poisonous gas contaminating every breath.

"Jake," she started and then stopped herself.

She nodded her head toward the door. Or maybe she nodded her head to another room and I saw her nod to the door because if we were going to do this now, a wall wouldn't be enough. I wanted miles between me and her and eavesdropping ears.

I got up and stalked passed her and out the door.

Bella must have understood because she didn't speak a word when she got outside. She just started running.

I followed her in human form; it felt strange running on two legs instead of four. Not wrong more like I was out of practice at being normal. On the rez I'd been forced to be prepared for interacting with humans. Now, on the other side of the country, I only interacted with normal people in school. Out of school I was surrounded by mythical beings each more bizarre than the last.

Bella slammed on the breaks without warning. I slammed into her. She shrugged an apology I didn't think was too sincere; as easily as she could still read me, I could still read her. I wasn't bothered; I'd taken worst hits… some of them from her.

I braced myself for anything. Bella's temper had been hot as a human; as a vampire her temper could reach stratospheres that NASA hadn't dreamed of yet. But when she looked at me it wasn't rage staring back. What was staring back at me was every bit of helplessness that I'd felt.

She let out a banshee like wail and swayed on her feet.

So when she fell silent I hugged her.

"Jacob!" she gasped in my ear as if her lungs suddenly needed the oxygen. "We have to get her back! We have to…"

"We will," I spoke quietly.

We'd get her back. I was suddenly sure we'd get her back. Just as I was sure Edward was going to make that witch regret taking his daughter, I was sure we would get Nessie back. My worry was more for the condition Nessie would be in when we did find her… But I moved my thoughts away.

"Bella, I will bring her home," I vowed.

"I can't live without her," I added on quieter still.

Bella pulled away at that. She shook her head in agitation and paced back in forth. She stopped pacing and observed me for a moment.

"You can't, can you?" she muttered more to herself than to me.

"I don't get it Bella," I said finally, "I thought… Well, I don't know what I thought. I guess I just assumed you had accepted me and Ness."

"I did I just… I just…" She groaned and sank down to her knees. "Cripes!"

She still cussed in PG formatting.

"I didn't want to be a mom, Jacob. It wasn't in the cards for me until it was and then I wanted more than anything, more than life, more than immortality." She ran hand through her mahogany hair. "There was this little piece part me and part Edward and I loved her before I knew she was a her, you know?"

"I know." I gave a short laugh.

_Edward Jacob._

"I remember you having big plans for little EJ."

She snorted. "I can't be right all the time."

I sank to my knees. "Can't being right most of the time be enough? The only one with a scorecard better than yours is Alice, and let's face it with all these shape-shifters crossing her wires, your predictions are an improvement."

She giggled and suddenly we were best friends sharing witty banter on a summer day, inside a ramshackle garage reeking of sweat and oil, passing warm cans of soda… Forging memories of a friendship that would run deep in our veins like blood… Then Bella clamped a hand over her mouth and her giggle cut off.

We landed back in this moment, where the future was unsure. Her daughter, my love, was gone. We running low on hope and ideas. And now my best friend might hate me for marrying her daughter.

Because I _would_ marry Nessie. No more waiting. No more blessings needed as much as they might be wanted.

"Its only been seven years, Jacob. Seven years a mom. And Nessie? She's _seven._"

She said the number in a voice that made me feel like some kind of pervert and it pissed me off.

"That's not true!" I yelled at her. "And you know it."

"Nessie might act like a teenager sometimes and she might think like one from time to time, but we both know that that's personality and nothing more. When she was a fetus she was forming more coherent thoughts then me! It took her, what, five seconds to walk once she decided she wanted to? A week later she was reading materials some people don't see until their final year of college, material I still don't understand and I'm not _seven_!" I shook my head at Bella. "Renesmee might act like a kid from time to time, but don't fool yourself."

I rubbed a hand over my face.

"I remember you were seventeen going on forty and didn't bat an eye at the thought of marrying a guy, what's Edward? Like ninety years older?"

I knew what I was going to say next was going to make me sound like an insensitive dick. I couldn't not say it because it was the truth. So I loaded my words with bitterness and hoped Bella couldn't see how much it hurt to say. "Nessie was born as a baby because the size was convenient."

Bella glared at me hatefully then and I flinched away. I'm sure to Bella it sounded like I was telling her being becoming a mom had been nothing more than a means to an end. I didn't mean it like that, but then, I sort of did.

So I told her something I'd tried very hard over the years not to think about.

"It scares me, Bells. Is that what you want to hear? I love Renesmee so much more than I could ever imagine loving anyone. I'd be _anything_ for her if she'd only ask, that's what imprinting is. Its like she's the head and I'm the body. If she _thinks_ act, I _act_.

"But _she_ scares me. She has these moments, where she'll be almost like a normal teenager. Where she'll laugh or eat junk food or sneak out in the middle of the night… But then she has these moments where she'll say something I don't understand. Not because its nonsense, but because its logic presented in a way I've never seen before. She's not seven going on seventeen or seventeen going on forty. She's seven going on Einstein, _Prometheus!_ If there's a God she could steal from him with one hand while the other was picking his nose!"

"Jacob? What are you talking about?"

Bella was looking at me like I had lost my mind. Maybe I had.

"I'm talking about your daughter. The one who practically raised herself. The soul of a Greek philosopher, the mind of a genius, the personality of teenager, all bottled up inside a sparkly vampire exterior like a Build-a-Freak Cocktail!"

"Vampires… I get why they're smart, sort of. Everything gets enhanced right? The human mind couldn't cope with the amount of knowledge they can absorb in one sitting. And werewolves? We're smart because we share our intellects when we need to, turning many minds into one. But Nessie's mind is only hers and it didn't need enhancing because she was born not made… Where does she even fit in on the evolutionary scale Bella?'

"She stops growing but her mind can keep evolving? Even vampires can't do that, but she can! And what about me? She loves me now, she wants to marry me now, but what happens ten years down the road when she's this super brain and I'm just the dumb Injun nanny wolf? Will she want to trade up?"

I was getting hysterical so a I shut up.

Bella was still staring at me like she'd never seen me in bad lighting before.

When she finally spoke it was to tell me, "Prometheus was a Titan, not a Greek philosopher." Then she said, "Jesus, Jacob, your life is complicated."

As if I didn't know.

"I know."

"You're not a dumb Injun nanny wolf. Nessie doesn't see you that way and no one else does either. Don't say it again, okay?"

"Okay."

"I thought we were dealing with my insecurities today?"

"Let's just agree that we're both insecure little freaks."

I let go of my insecure hysteria long enough to get back to the point I'd originally tried to make, "No one ever said you have to stop being a mom, Bella. Renesmee will still need you just as much as she ever has… A marriage license won't change that, not really. But Renesmee's never been a child in the traditional sense."

She was still looking at me like I was something sparkly she found buried on the beach in La Push.

"What!" I snapped getting paranoid.

Finally she responded, "I just never realized how much you and Edward had in common."

"What?" Talk about a radical change of subject.

"She'll never outgrow you, Jacob." Bella told me, ignoring my address of her insecurities and addressing mine. "Edward always worried about that, I mean, with me. In the beginning, every time I told him I loved him he would say 'For now' or 'You might change your mind' or something. He thought one day I'd wake up, wonder what I was doing with him… It won't happen. You two don't even see it. But I see it. She moves, you move. You move, she moves."

She looked very thoughtful now as opposed to amazed.

I opened my mouth to respond only to find I had no response. I disregarded her comment about Edward, that was just too much to think about. But the rest seemed important. I took a moment to consider the implication and then shook my head. It was all too much.

So I gestured to her and then to myself and asked, "Where does that leave us?"

"Where it always leaves us," she said with a wry smile. "Confused."

I groaned and covered my face with my hands. "Remember when we were normal?"

"Yeah." She laughed once. "Wasn't it boring?"

There wasn't much left to say after that. We'd shared our grievances and panic attacks and made jokes to make light of a situation that neither of us really understood. We ran back to the house, without a spoken resolution, but the air felt lighter between us, not riddled with tension like it had been before.

"I'll tell you something right now," I gasped between pants, "I am not at all like Edward."

"A little bit Jacob," she said turning her head just long enough to glance at me. "A little bit."

We got back to the house just in time for all hell to break loose.

Rosalie and Emmett's scents were fresh in the air when we came into the yard. We could here the chaos from outside and we both froze to listen. The words were panicked and jumbled and for a split second I thought the worst. The more I listened, I realized the sentence fragments floating through the air were more confused than grief stricken. Then Edward's wordless, frustrated snarl had Bella moving toward the door. The subsequent crash of his fist colliding with something breakable had me moving, more curious than anything else.

Inside the house, the coffee table lay in ruins. Everyone was talking over each other and none of it made sense.

It wasn't amusing anymore.

"SHUT UP!" I roared above the din.

The Alpha was back and he wanted order. Right now.

"Emmett, Rosalie. What did you find?" I asked outright.

"Nothing yet," began Rosalie, but I cut her off.

"Have you finished your list?"

"No, but-"

"Then why are you back?"

She bristled at my tone and began to tell me off, "Listen Fleabag, I am not one of your pack-"

No. It was much worse than that. She was an in-law.

Emmett to my great surprise cut her off mid-sentence, "Mike texted us. He said he had news and to come here. I tried calling him but he isn't picking up. He only sent a follow up text, saying he'd explain when he saw us. He also sent a number and a name. 80 Martha Ava."

"You think that's the witch's name and what? Her age?" asked Bella, rocking Edward on the couch, trying to soothe him.

Emmett shrugged. "I guess, he'll tell us. Although if she was eighty it would make some kind of sense right? I mean, she's looking for something in the blood right? Maybe the old bag isn't ready to die just yet…"

"Could be, Emmett," Carlisle said scratching his face, "I've heard stories…"

_I'll bet he has,_ the thought was errant and unwelcome and I focused on his face.

"Jacob? Can you call the others in? If Mike's got news they should be here."

I nodded and moved toward the back door.

Stopping as a suspicious feeling poked at my gut.

Something didn't feel right.

"Maybe we should wait on that," I said, spotting Emmett's phone on the kitchen counter, knowing Edward's rage and all the minds surrounding his own would keep him from seeing into my head. "It might cause unnecessary panic. Let's wait to know more."

"Maybe you're right," Carlisle agreed from the other room and then groaned himself.

It was hard, in times of turmoil, trying to know what was right and wrong.

80 Martha Ava.

Why would they need her age?

I picked up the phone and scrolled to the last text from might.

**Ur house now. C u soon. Tell them. 80 Martha Ava.**

_What in God's name…_

Mike burst through the front door, flinging it so hard there was sure to be a dent in the wall. Jasper and Terry did the same to the door at the basement, coincidentally at the same time.

_Can it be that easy?_ I asked myself staring at the words until the power saver blackened the cell screen.

"It worked!" Terry screamed just as Jasper yelled, "We know who the witch is!"

"I know where Nessie is!" Mike yelled.

I'm not sure which proclamation triggered it but they were all asking questions at once. So chaotic in the living room, they didn't even hear me leaving the house.

_80 Martha Ava. Could the answer be so simple?_

The world tilted back into place. Nessie was gone, but suddenly everything felt _right._

Sure.

She was gone.

Kidnapped.

Drugged.

Being prepped for ritual sacrifice.

Funny thing about those iPhones, like the one Mike carried. The auto-correct was rarely ever correct.

_80 Martha Ava or 80 Martha __Ave__?_

Mike had sent us a street address.

I started running.

_80 Martha Avenue._

* * *

><p><em>Sorry for the delay, my lovelies, <em>_technical issues have plagued me._


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

80 Martha Avenue.

After all this trouble even I couldn't believe the simplicity. After all, I _knew_ where Martha Avenue was located. It was just a matter of finding out which house was house number eighty. I knew where I was going and I was going there human although I wasn't sure why I'd taken two legs instead of four.

Convenience?

Once I shifted shape, I'd be stuck running around stark naked if I needed my hands. But a mind link would be useful…

Unless.

"_It's Latin. It loosely translates to Deadman's Dream Walk. On humans, prolonged exposure leads to unconsciousness, then coma, and eventually death."_

"_And on vampires?" Tom asked._

"_It sends them into a trancelike and often hallucinatory state, leaving the lines between reality and fantasy blurred and the victim helpless for a time."_

"_On a hybrid?" I asked as Tom parroted, "For a time?"_

_Carlisle was quiet for a moment and when he spoke it was Tom's question he answered._

"…_Vampires aren't meant to erode, though under certain circumstances it can happen. Human antibodies survive the transition of human to vampire. But because vampires don't get sick, they aren't needed… When a chemical compound tries to erode the vampiric internal system, the antibodies will try to counteract the effects like they would a virus; first fighting it off and then building immunity."_

So maybe I'd gone human as a mixture of convenience and fear. I was afraid of them hearing something I wasn't prepared to share.

"_It's not without side effects."_

Had Carlisle told the others yet? What this drug could do to Nessie? Had Mike and Jasper told the family what they knew? Had they realized I was gone? I was sure they had figured it all out by now and wondered how long it would take them to organize and catch up.

I slowed my run for a brief second as doubt crept in. I was still a little fuzzy on how this witch thing worked. If I busted in there all alone, there was the possibility that I could be the one getting a surprise I didn't want. Call me crazy, but I didn't want to spend the rest of my life as a toad watching some crazy lady from a jar on the mantle as she slaughtered children.

Then I sped up.

This was the real world and the witch was still human. In the real world, no matter how strong a human is, death will always be an immediate cure for murderous insanity.

My muscles burned but I ignored them. They could tire all they wanted but they weren't allowed to give out. I pushed myself faster still. I didn't really notice when I reached my destination, but I noticed when my legs stopped.

I followed the road to the address.

Yeah, it really was that simple.

All this blind panic and in the end it all came down to a simple street address.

The first thought I had when I finally set eyes on the witch's house was how fitting it was. It was like looking at an inverted meteor strike. A crater of trees and in the center, a big, dump of a house leaping out of the darkness. Paint was peeling and shingles were curling away from nails that were fighting a losing battle; several windows were boarded, probably from necessity. It looked every bit of the horror movie mansion. Right down to the state of the art, eight foot tall, iron fence with spiked tips and a security camera… I froze as I saw the blinking light.

The fence couldn't stop me, but the camera made me think.

Had I lost the element of surprise?

A flutter of movement caught my eye and I flinched. But then I saw the piece of cloth fluttering from an iron spike. Nobody had sounded an alarm. So going with caution, I edged around the perimeter of the fence stopping when I caught Nessie's scent on the breeze. I looked back at the fabric again now that I was closer… Did witches normally leave strips of peach chiffon flying from their hideous security fences?

I stared at the ground beneath the fence. On either side of the barrier there were tracks. It took me a second to understand what I was seeing and then I laughed with relief.

My girl was rescuing herself.

I turned and took one last look at the house; no movement. Either the witch didn't know Nessie was missing or she was in no condition to go looking.

"_In theory, Nessie is human enough that the drug will knock her out, but she's got enough vampire in her that her antibodies will fight back… efficiently."_

"_Why is that bad news?"_

"_What you don't understand Jacob, is that by modern medical standards, it makes no logical sense that antibodies should survive the transition. In a human body, antibodies are pretty much synonymous with white blood cells. Vampires don't have blood."_

_I felt a tugging at the corners of my mind, this was important, but I couldn't quite grasp why._

"_Granted, the sciences on vampire etymology and physiology are a little behind the times, but I'd guess the reason why vampires are so dependent on human blood has more to do with the similarities between the species, than the extreme differences."_

_The tugging became painful as I tried to understand._

"_You need blood… to support the human part of you?"_

"_Yes… And Nessie has more of humanity than most of us."_

_My stomach became hot and painful. I was almost there, but my brain was trying to protect me with a haze of denial._

"_Dear God," Tom whispered. "What happened to your test subjects?"_

"_The amount of energy the antibodies used up sent the vampires over the edge, turned them ravenous to the point of insanity. Imagine the thirst of a newborn vampire going unsatisfied for about thirty years. The technical term is 'stimulated appetite' but today its more casually called 'the munchies'. Except when humans get the munchies they don't go on a murderous rampage. The test subjects were going to be executed as punishment anyways, but after I used the witch inspired medicinal, execution was required for safety of humans and vampires alike."_

_Tom gasped and failed to conceal the horror on his face._

_Because it was how vampires and humans were alike that dictated the need for blood. Nessie may have carried human qualities, but one only had to see her run, hunt, hear her snarl, to remember she wasn't human. She was just more like a human than the rest. She could survive on human food, but she didn't crave it the way humans did. She was nursed on human blood for Christ's sake._

_How much blood would she need to satisfy these munchies? Would moose be enough or would she require something else?_

_I thought of Nessie, her wild bronze curls loose in the wind as she leapt after the local New England wildlife… But instead of deer or coyotes fleeing, I saw humans. And Nessie's eyes turned glazed with the need to feed._

_The woman I loved._

_Could she be driven to murder?_

_Carlisle seemed to think so._

_That's when my stomach contents boiled over._

I was too much of a coward to approach the house. If Nessie was well enough to escape, who knows what else she was able to do. I didn't want to think of her like that, I didn't want to think of her killing no matter how much the deceased may have deserved it. Better to find her and stop her from doing something stupid.

I turned my back on the crater and marched after the trail Nessie was leaving. About three hundred yards worth of footsteps later, I had to wonder… Where was she going? She was running, that much was clear from the length between steps, but as a whole the trail looked frenetic. Did she not know which direction was home? Or was she looking for food? The trail began to loop back toward the witch's house… Then it swerved away in the opposite direction again.

I heard a scream and froze.

Renesmee was screaming. I turned from the nonsense trail and started running toward her voice before it went silent.

"Nessie!" I screamed.

No answer.

"Renesmee! Make a sound!"

Laughter.

Renesmee's laughter.

I ran toward it.

Nessie was lying on the ground, her curls a wet, matted mess around her head. I could see a car pass by the screen of branches and sagged in the snow next to her in disbelief of how close she was to the road. I pulled her to me, inhaled her sweet scent, rejoiced in the sound of the heart that thrummed in her chest as it always did and always would…

"Jacob," she said my name with a giggle.

"Nessie, Nessie look at me," I told her, panicking.

Her voice was wrong.

She looked at me and I saw the pupils in her eyes, had almost completely engulfed the brown. The drugs hadn't completely worn off.

"Are you real this time?" she asked. "Because you owe me an apology if you're not."

"Nessie," I said her name to reassure myself. "Nessie, I'm real and I'm here. Baby, I'm never letting you go again do you understand?"

Then her eyes came into focus and in a voice just like normal she said, "I think I killed somebody tonight."

* * *

><p><strong>Nessie's POV.<strong>

_**Earlier that same day.**_

I was supposed to get away from the smell. I didn't give up exactly, I just got distracted. In all that time it took me to open my eyes, there came a point where it hurt to keep them open. The world flashed in kaleidoscope colors that burned like fire. I finally re-closed my eyes and let myself drift…

_Jacob was asking me to marry him tonight. I knew he thought I was beautiful no matter what, but he deserved the perfection. I owed him that. He nearly lost his first family, struggling to bring me safely into the world. He gave up his home, his social life… sex; he gave it all so I could live safe and happy until the day I could love him equally._

_I don't know if I could achieve the perfection I wanted to give him, but I would try. I would try for as long as I lived; I loved him that much._

_That's why I was heading to Tara's house. She had a scarf that would match my top perfectly. I know it was stupid. I'm like a bajillionaire. I could have bought something on eBay and teleported by warlock if I played my MasterCard right. But I wanted the gossip. I wanted to see Tara's face when I announced why I needed to look perfect._

_Was it vindictive of me, that I wanted to see a modicum of jealousy on her face when she found out? The way Leah made me feel when she sat planning her wedding in front of me? Was it selfish of me to want to see her happy for me, even before Jacob officially asked? Was it silly to want to celebrate with my best friend, as short lived as her life was, compared to mine?_

_Yes, to all of the above, but I was human enough to want._

_I felt him following me._

_He'd been following me for sometime this vampire… I didn't like being stalked. I was nobody's prey. I wouldn't let him follow me any further. It wouldn't be right to let him tail me to the human family that had accepted the lie I fed them. I loved them; I protected what I loved._

_I turned to end the nonsense and I saw him._

_There was a man with pasty skin, red eyes, and a venomously cheerful disposition staring at me. I felt the air rush out of lungs and through my gaping jaws it was like sandpaper scraping my windpipe._

_I didn't scream, I couldn't remember how._

_I dreamed of this man since I was a baby. He'd haunted my earliest nightmares like the boogeyman in the closet. Invisible but no less real._

_He stood before me in a fine cloak and, from the darkness that surrounded him, emerged his two brothers. Caius, bitter and angry, I never forgot how he loved his violence. Like the vampire from Queen of the Damned, he lived to destroy. Marcus, with his languid, Edgar Allen Poe personality and his acceptance that death would never come for him no matter how long he waited…_

"_Renesmee," Aro called out to me._

_I stepped away._

"_Renesmee, you can't run from us, Dear One," Aro called._

"_Leave me alone," I whimpered._

"_Is that anyway to talk to your new masters?" Caius sneered._

_I shook my head and stepped away again._

"_You're not my masters," I said indignantly wishing I could feel the bravery in my voice. "I remember. I remember."_

"_You remember what?" Aro asked._

"_They said. They all said you couldn't take me. You have no right. Go away!"_

"_And what about Sweet Isabella?"_

"_Mom?" I stepped forward. "You can't have her! Dad and Jacob would kill you first!"_

"_Jacob? The red wolf?" asked Caius, running a grey tongue over his lips. "He tasted repulsive… But that blood was so powerful."_

_I screamed in anguish and threw myself at the vampire lords. They seemed to move out of my way like ghosts. And pain flooded my body as the baby faced demon set her gaze on me._

_She spoke so smugly, "My brother has your family. Your wolf is dead. Your family will join him unless…"_

_I sobbed, incapacitated by the pain of losing Jacob._

"_Please." I sobbed._

_I'm not sure which one picked me up. I only knew that when their cold flesh touched mine I was too terrified, too grief-stricken to pull away._

_In the distance I heard my mom screaming…_

The screaming woke me up. The ache in my throat hurt so badly I nearly screamed myself. My eyes snapped open but it wasn't my mom screaming. The woman was angry and crying and screaming. Someone was dead and her plan was falling apart. She kicked a chair and a handmade purse hit the ground.

I smiled with humor as thousands of jellybeans came pouring out of the hand stitched purse, a tidal wave of Easter candy. I wondered how she fit it all in there until the jellybeans sprouted wings and fluttered around her in a tornado-like cluster and then I blinked. The flying jellybeans were gone; had they never existed? The purse was left alone on the floor but this time I recognized it.

The night I demanded that Jacob propose, the night I went shopping with Rose and Alice… The night I bought this blouse despite Alice's curling nose at the non-designer boutique, but liking the garment enough to hold her tongue. That night there had been a woman in the store with us and she dropped her purse at checkout. I'd bent to pick it up and commented on the needlework. It was beautifully done. But the compliment didn't seem to register; she just stared at me thoughtfully before taking her leave.

I'd just assumed I'd made her uncomfortable by being different. Some people noticed and some people didn't.

A human working with the Volturi? Was that even possible?

Aro's bright smile swam before my eyes; the thirst was building higher, making me irrational. All I saw was the manipulative monster the smile concealed, and I threw a fist into the hallucination. I hit something lightweight. It tumbled and clattered across the floor and I froze hoping the human traitor wouldn't notice.

She didn't. She wasn't even in the room anymore.

The smell had faded too. It was less potent, less concentrated. I relaxed at the one small victory. My head fell back to the floor.

I drifted for a shorter time period this time and woke up of my own volition. Jacob was sitting next to me smiling his sunshine smile.

"Jake," I whispered and reached for his hand.

He moved away from me.

"No," he said. "I can't touch you."

"Why the hell not?" I asked.

"It's not time," he told me. "You're just a child. And I can do better."

_Like hell he could,_ I thought.

It was easier punching Jacob than it was punching Aro. My arms moved more freely, I barely had to think about it. He laughed as my fist went through him and evaporated like steam.

"What the hell?" I heard the harsh voice.

That woman was back.

She came closer.

She was yelling at me.

But the ache in my throat was so bad now; I felt hot tears flood my cheeks. Inside the woman, I heard the most beautiful of sounds. A thumping heart, the rush of blood, the rustle of oxygen through working lungs… The smell she produced, of copper and cinnamon and of honey and of ice; I needed to consume it all. The sound, the scent, the taste.

I didn't make the decision, not really. My body moved without permission. She screamed in surprise and then horror and the sound of it thrilled me. My heart beat faster as hers slowed. And the taste of copper, cinnamon, honey and ice, flooded my mouth warm and heavy.

I heard the Volturi brothers chuckling as I drank and I dropped the body to the floor. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, why they wanted me, but I decided they couldn't have me.

I could stand, I could move.

I ran from them.

I leapt out a window and into the cold; glass splintered like a crystalline blizzard. I was past thinking. My throat still hurt and I didn't want to go to Italy. They could try to catch me, but they never would.

I ran faster and faster, so fast my heart and lungs hurt my chest. I could hear them chasing and taunting, pointing out my weaknesses. I zigzagged and felt like a hare; trying to use cheap tricks to throw off the more experienced runners.

"We'll catch you Nessie!"

"Can't you hear your heart? You can't run forever!"

"It'll be so much easier if you just agree, Renesmee!"

That last voice was closer than the others and I flinched and fell down. I crashed into the snow and screamed in frustration at my failure. I didn't have enough breath to keep screaming, so finally I just lay there, feeling the snow melt and turn to mud next to my body heat.

"Nessie!"

_Jacob._

Jacob was calling me. He wasn't dead and he'd save me. But save me from what? The Volturi had disappeared at the sound of his voice. They weren't real. Did that mean Jacob wasn't real either? Was I still back in that stuffy house?

"Renesmee! Make a sound!"

I felt the hysteria bubbling from my lips. I couldn't control it. It was all too much. If I was ever found, I needed to be medicated. I needed a drink and I needed medication and intensive therapy. I wasn't losing it; it was long gone.

Jacob was beside me again but I ignored this figment.

_He could do better than me?_ I don't think so. He was damned lucky to be a figment of my imagination.

He picked me up into his strong arms and a feeling of security washed over me.

"Jacob," I said his name through a laugh.

This was improper. Hallucinations could haunt, not touch.

"Nessie, Nessie look at me," he said.

He sounded so scared. I couldn't not look at him.

I stared at his face; it was more solid than the other Jacob. The more I focused the more I noticed how imperfect this vision was. He wasn't smug nor sunlight; he was afraid and tired. He wasn't sexy without noticing, he wasn't sexy at all; to be frank he looked like utter crap.

"Are you real this time?" I asked. "Because you owe me an apology if you're not."

"Nessie," he said desperately. "Nessie, I'm real and I'm here. Baby, I'm never letting you go again do you understand?"

Yes, I think this crappy looking Jacob was the real Jacob. This keeping track of reality thing was getting harder. I licked the roof of my mouth and the flavor of human blood was still there. I don't think I imagined that part either.

"I think I killed somebody tonight."

I don't think I really wanted to tell him that. It was one of those things that might be best taken to the grave. Would he hate me now? The world was tipping on its axis again and I trusted his arms to keep me from falling whether he hated me or not.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

**Jacob POV**

I wasn't surprised by her admission. In this family, when the other shoe drops, it doesn't drop quietly. I should have been angry with myself for expecting the worst, but seeing as the worst had happened now I had to deal with it. I wasn't angry with Nessie either; I saw the fear in her eyes after she made her admission, fear aimed at me.

I never wanted her to think she had to fear me for any reason, least of all judgments. I'd never judge her in a negative light; when you loved someone, you loved someone. As far as I knew, there weren't conditional clauses.

I was angry that the witch couldn't have done her research better; maybe she'd have known the side effects and Nessie wouldn't have been forced to kill. I was angry that the woman had died quick and easy. I was angry that the bright light of childhood had been snuffed out for so many who had fallen prey to the murderous duo.

Nessie went limp again and her eyes lost their focus. I forced myself to hold off the panic and evaluate the situation. Her heartbeat was strong and she wasn't getting out of my arms without a fight. The meds would wear off. As long as she could get the right kind of blood, I was sure there'd be no lasting physical affects. Although I did worry that taking a human life might cause psychological damage, we could deal with that later.

"Renesmee!" I heard Bella shrieking in the distance. "Jacob!"

I cradled Nessie in my arms, letting her head rest against the crook of my neck, and stood.

"Bella! I've got her!" I called out and began walking back toward the house of horrors.

"Jake!" Bella's voice was moving closer now.

I could hear her running as she closed the distance between us. She burst on scene like a war goddess; seductively angry and more than ready to deliver a knock out punch to whatever beast had earned it. I cringed silently realizing I was the beast to earn it.

"Nessie!"

Clearly, I thought too highly of myself. Once she had found us, Bella was more concerned with her daughter lying prone in my arms. She put her hands on Nessie's face, checked vitals and bones; a physical exam made more difficult by my refusal to let Renesmee down. It wasn't until Bella tried to take Renesmee from me, that she had reason to notice me.

"Give her here," Bella demanded.

"No, I've got her," I answered.

I knew the topaz eyes narrowing at me were a warning sign. It was a warning sign I disregarded. She could break my jaw. I still wasn't putting Nessie in someone else's arms. A sharp pain in my neck had me changing my decision in a heartbeat.

"Owww, damn it!" I yelled in surprise.

Nessie's teeth had firmly sunken into my skin as she attempted to feed from me. Bella's arms replaced mine as I reached up to pry Nessie's teeth from my neck.

I was pretty okay with Bella carrying Nessie after that.

"You're in so much trouble later. You know that, right?" Bella informed me as we walked back together.

"I know," I answered.

I tore a strip from my shirt and held the wad of fabric to my neck.

When we finally stepped from the woods, I was surprised at the scene that greeted us. Bella's Ferrari, Jasper's Hummer, and Esme's deceptively mom-mobile looking BMW all sat shiny and ostentatious in front of the dump of the house. I could hear voices inside the house and see enough tracks to know they hadn't let the security fence stop them from intruding. It sounded like Edward, Carlisle, Esme and Jasper had all made the trip. Mark and Mike were doing a perimeter search, while I could hear Tom inside saying something to Esme.

But if Esme had an answer, she didn't give it. She was out of the house and across the yard in a flash. The fence didn't even make her hesitate; she leapt it in a single bound.

"Renesmee?" she asked.

"Renesmee?" she asked.

"She's out of it," I said. "But she'll be okay, I think."

Esme ignored my words and proceeded to go through the same examination that Bella had done moments before… Must be a mom thing.

I was staring up at the house when it happened. A stone palm collided with the back of my head hard enough to make my eyes roll.

It wasn't Bella.

"Jacob Black!" Esme yelled. "How dare you? It isn't bad enough I had to worry about whether or not my granddaughter was coming home, you had to run off, and, and-" she started sobbing. I had the good sense to stand still and hug her back when she embraced me. I didn't complain when she insisted on checking my vitals, my neck wound - which had healed - and lack of broken bones.

Did she really just hit me?

"I'm going to put her in the car," Bella said.

"Which one?" I muttered which earned me a second smack.

"Don't get smart," Esme snapped and stomped off after Bella.

I stared after them for a moment considering my options. I didn't want to let Renesmee out of my sight after all this trouble, but I wanted to get a look inside that house. I decided that Nessie could be unconscious without me.

Over the fence I went.

I walked into the house, all the floorboards creaking beneath me, a sharp contrast to the silent footsteps of the vampire who greeted me. I half thought Edward was going to hit me too, but instead he just hugged me.

"We've got blood," Edward said releasing me.

I tensed.

He shook his head.

"For Renesmee," he explained. "Carlisle started the habit of squirreling a few packets away for a rainy day, whenever extras weren't need for traumas. We figured it's pouring."

I nodded, understanding. She was going to need something stronger than animal blood to recover from this disaster.

I moved passed Edward and looked around.

"Her name was Madelyn Markie," he told me, "her driver's license was in her purse. The vampire was named Simon."

"Who cares what their names were?" I growled.

After all the pain they caused, their names weren't worthy of remembering.

I was surprised how normal the inside of the house looked compared with the outside. I was expecting alters with basins full of blood, candles burning, naked cat skulls… But the place looked ordinary. Everything was polished and kept clean. The furniture looked a little tacky as if one of those furniture magazines had inspired the witch's décor, but that was it.

I felt rage boil through me so fast and hard I nearly turned wolf on the spot. It left my body almost immediately leaving me very confused.

"It's Jasper," Edward said, darting away.

I followed slowly and found them in a computer room. Behind the little desktop, a massive corkboard spanned from one side of the room to the other. On the corkboard were names, ages, and locations.

"She's been at this a long time," Jasper hissed through his teeth.

I couldn't help the gasp that escaped. "You mean these are all kids she's…"

"She killed them," Edward hissed softly. "All in vain. The experiments failed."

"According to this, Renesmee's blood would have done the trick, easy," Jasper said drawing attention back to himself.

In his hand was a journal. On the floor, beside the computer desk, there was a stack of journals. Edward reached for another. They were both reading the psycho bitch's journals as if they were unpublished Dan Brown manuscripts. I looked back at the corkboard from hell and then at the books they were looking over. I took the journals they were reading and tossed them both on the floor.

"No good can come from that," I told them and left the room.

"Don't touch that," shouted Carlisle above us.

I found a staircase leading upwards and found the second floor was much colder. A window had been smashed outward; it took me a second to realize Nessie had jumped. Across from the window was another room and in it I found Tom backing away from a mess of ash on the floor. Carlisle was hovering over the body. It wasn't the ash, the body, Carlisle or Tom holding my attention. It was the dog cages. The witch had locked them in cages like animals. It wasn't Jasper fueling my hatred this time. It was all me.

"I need a plastic bag," Carlisle spoke. "Jacob, go find her kitchen and see if you can find… Jacob?"

"Here Carlisle," Edward said holding out a box of Ziplocs.

Carlisle took two.

I noticed he stopped breathing when he bent down to inspect the mess. He used his fingers to brush the ash into one bag and then he zipped it shut. Inside the other bag, he put the pieces of broken pottery and a strange crystal cluster he was hesitant to touch. In the end, he used a pen to nudge the sparkling rock into the Ziploc.

"What we do?" I finally asked.

"What do you mean?" Carlisle asked.

I looked at him strangely. I knew he had his science hat on, but could he really be so clueless?

Tom seemed to understand.

"We can't mention any of the supernatural stuff, but there's more than enough evidence to implicate the witch in many missing persons and homicides, not just the ones we found up here. There's a curved blade down in her ritual room that match the cuts in the children's necks. We will remove the journal entries that pertain to your family. I'll plant something that will lead the police here," he explained. "The families will get closure."

"How do you explain away… her throat?"

"I won't. Neither will the cops. I doubt their first thought will be a vampire hybrid ate her. They'll assume her partner in crime killed her. When the journal speaks of vampires and magic they will assume she was highly delusional. She won't be the first serial killer to be crazy. Case closed."

_Case closed?_

I wanted to lash out at him for being so casual, but the screaming coming from the driveway sidetracked me.

_Nessie._

I ran.

I was down the stairs and out the door in seconds; Edward and Carlisle followed close behind.

"Renesmee, calm down," Bella was yelling.

Nessie looked frantic. She was outside, standing with her back to the car, twisting her body one way and then the other, trying to keep Esme and Bella from closing in on her.

"You're lying!" she screamed.

"Sweetheart-" Esme tried to pacify her, but never got the chance to finish her sentence.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Nessie's hands covered her ears like she was trying to block out the noise and then returned her hands to a more defensive position in front of her. "He left me! I know it!"

_Who?_ I wondered.

"He's right here Renesmee," Edward spoke softly behind me.

She went quiet at that and her eyes found mine. They were glazed and wild, but I wasn't entirely certain the drugs were responsible this time. She looked heartbroken.

_This is about me?_

"Of course it's you, Dumb-ass," muttered Edward.

"I'm sorry," Bella said. "She came to and thought…"

But I was already approaching Renesmee. She woke and I wasn't there. I should have been there.

Renesmee didn't move toward me, but she didn't move away from me either. I felt my heart break too, as her body trembled against the car. She should never have to hurt like this. She should never have to have reason to doubt me.

"You hate me now," she whispered.

I ignored the statement, instead taking her trembling form in my arms. She didn't resist but she didn't relax either.

"What a stupid thing to say," I told her.

"You said you were never letting me go again," she whimpered. "I told you what I did and then you weren't there…"

"That was stupid thing for me to do," I acquiesced. "I shouldn't have left your side. You're right and I'm so sorry."

"You're sorry?"

"Yes."

I felt her start to relax as my words began to think into her thick, Cullen skull. She was definitely Edward's daughter.

"Hey!" he objected from behind me.

_What?_ I thought at him. _Like you don't have the tendency to jump the gun?_

Nessie put a hand on my cheek and her voice flooded my mind.

_I am sorry for what I did, Jacob. I didn't mean to kill her. I didn't even think about it, I just… I just lost control._

"I believe you," I whispered. "And just so there aren't any more misunderstandings, I, Jacob Black, love you, Renesmee Carlie Cullen. Hatred is not an emotion I associate with your name."

I opened the door of the tricked out mom-mobile and slid into the back seat pulling Renesmee with me.

"Love," I said, "that's an emotion I associate with your name. Adoration. Awe. Pride. Occasionally, confusion. Gratitude."

She giggled as a tear trickled down her cheek. "Gratitude?"

"Of course," I told her, reaching up to wipe her face clean. "Every morning I get up and thank whatever God had the good grace to send you to me. And every night I go to sleep thanking God for making you immortal, so I never have to experience the pain of losing you. And every time I see your face, I thank you for choosing me back."

"I want to go home, Jake," she said, curling into my chest.

"We can go home," I assured her. "The others have this covered."

Esme and Bella took their cues silently, hopping in the front. Bella paused before getting in the passenger seat, winking at Mark and tossing him the keys to her Ferrari.

"You licensed?" she asked, climbing into her seat.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered looking a bit dazed.

"Someone needs to get my other baby home safely," Bella said, shutting the door on his reply.

"Bella?" I asked as Esme pulled out.

She turned and looked at me.

"You know he's not licensed, right?"

She smiled. "I know… But it never stopped you."

I buried my face in Nessie's hair and smiled. Nessie was safe in my arms, Edward liked me, and Bella was still my best friend despite the bumps in the road. There was a new breed of shape-shifter in town, the bad guys were dead, and all the sweet cars a guy could ever dream of driving. Our family was growing and no doubt would continue to grow as the years passed, despite the not so top secret vampire fear that families were only attainable for humans.

The old times were still unforgettable, but the new times were pretty damn good, too.

* * *

><p><em>Epilogue and outtakes to follow.<em>


	23. Epilogueish

Epilogue…ish.

We got home and I carried Nessie to her bed under Esme's scrutiny. Esme said it was more out of concern for me and I believed her. She knew me well enough by now to know I'd never harm Nessie. Nessie however, was on the verge of having another fit and I was the only one with edible blood in the house.

I smelled the blood on the air and Nessie didn't hesitate. She lunged from her bed and Esme moved to block her. I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back.

Bella showed up with a pitcher of blood in one hand and an empty glass in the other. Nessie disregarded the glass. I watched her two hand the pitcher like someone might warm their hands on a coffee mug and felt sick again. One thing was certain; Esme was never serving me lemonade out of that thing again.

"How much is she supposed to drink?" I asked as she polished off the jug and looked for more.

"Until she stops craving it," Esme answered and took the pitcher and retreated for more.

"Do we have that much?" I asked.

The look on Bella's face said no, we did not.

"We're hoping we have enough to offset the symptoms… enough that she can hunt."

My body jerked in shock.

"Christ, Jacob, you know better than that. I meant animals. She only needs enough to get herself under control… we have enough for that. Then we'll take her on a supervised hunt. Carlisle thinks once her system stabilizes a bit she'll be able to use animal blood again."

Esme handed another topped off decanter to Nessie.

"And if that theory doesn't pan out?" I asked to distract myself from the human blood dripping down Nessie's chin and the way her tongue stretched catlike to catch it from going to waste.

"We'll steal more, I guess," Esme answered.

"It won't be needed… Look," Bella ordered with relief in her voice.

The pitcher was about two thirds empty and Renesmee was already losing interest.

"Well, she's not really a vampire is she? Carlisle said it's the way we're like humans that causes the problems… At least half of her really is human…" Bella wondered out loud.

"Can we have a moment?" I asked.

Renesmee eyes were more focused than not and her appetite had faded. Neither Esme nor Bella seemed to find fault with my request.

"If you need us," Esme told me.

I understood the subtext. They'd be close enough to hear.

I climbed onto the bed and wrapped Nessie up in my arms.

"Thank you for coming for me," she whispered.

"That's what she said," I joked.

She giggled and said, "You know you really are a dork."

"I know. Did you know how beautiful you look in this color? Makes me regret that we never got that date."

"Makes me regret that I never got that ring," she murmured.

I chuckled. "You knew?"

"Who didn't?"

I retracted the arm wrapped around Nessie and reached into my pocket for the ring nestled there. I curled back around her, letting the ring fall in her line of sight.

"You worried about this old thing?" I whispered.

"Jacob! It's beautiful!" she gasped and sat upright again.

She tried to take the ring from me, but I wrestled it from her fingers. Our date may have gone to hell but I finally had the element of surprise and I'd be damned if she wasn't getting a half decent proposal. I leapt out of bed and knelt before her on the floor.

"Renesmee… I know traditionally, this is the part where the guy tells the girl how much he loves her, but I need you to know how lost I was without you. Before you were born, I was bitter and angry and although it shames me to admit, suicidal. I was a lost child.'

"I viewed imprinting as a curse. It wasn't until you were born that I understood that it wasn't a curse, it was a gift. As werewolves, our bodies grow to accommodate the changes but our minds aren't given the same benefit. An imprint is the gift of maturity. Suddenly we've got this life depending on us, a life that needs looking after whether or not we understand why. Imprinting gives us a reason to become more than who we are. Your birth made me a man.'

"You asked me why I never asked you to marry me. I guess the answer is I always knew I belonged to you. I didn't know until that moment that you belonged to me equally. In my mind, you were always free to choose someone else and part of me thought you would.'

"Then that bitch took you. You were gone and it was too late and that lost feeling tried to come back and it hurt. I'd forgotten how much it hurt to be lost. And then I found you and you looked at me with so much doubt… I didn't like that. It didn't feel good to have the one person who should never doubt me, doubt me, but it is my fault. I didn't tell you how I felt, so I'm telling you now.'

"I love you. I love everything about you. I love you enough to let you go if that's what would make you happy. But I choose you. I will always choose you. I am the one person you never have to doubt, Renesmee. There isn't a day that will go by where I won't put you first."

I wasn't really sure when she started crying just that when I offered the ring her cheeks were flooded with moisture.

"Please, Renesmee, I don't want to be lost again. Choose me too. Will you marry me?"

I understood now why Emmett took proposals so lightly while Edward and Jasper took them so seriously. It was like autopsying yourself; you ripped yourself open for her to see until you were left exposed and bleeding on the floor. There was the split second where she was silent and you could only hope she loved you enough to say anything but no.

"Yes, Jacob," Renesmee's voice was a whisper, but I heard her answer.

I put the ring on her finger and climbed back into bed with her. I held her tightly in my arms and touched my lips to hers. Her face was sticky with tears, but her lips were warm and sweet when they moved with mine.

* * *

><p>Nessie had finally fallen asleep by the time Edward and Carlisle came home. I stayed with her watching her for awhile. It was pretty exhilarating to look down at her hand and see my mom's ring, <em>my<em> ring, on her finger. To know that she was willing to let more than supernatural powers bind us together.

I finally tore myself from her side and went out to sit on the porch swing. I stared at the broken railing and wanted to laugh. It almost seemed comical, that hours before we were all at our breaking point and now I was happy and engaged.

Bella came out and sat down beside me.

"What's everyone up to?" I asked.

"Carlisle's testing the stuff the witch used on Nessie. I suppose he wants to know exactly what was used just in case…." she trailed off.

I chose to ignore the trailing sentence. I would not let the dark possibilities overshadow my happiness.

"I told you, you and Edward were alike." Bella smirked at me.

"Shut up with that," I told her.

"You both proposed in a bedroom. You both used your mother's hand me down ring. You both bided your time thinking someone else was going to get the girl. You both did a little begging."

Now it was my turn to smirk.

"That's where you're wrong," I said. "I chose to beg. Renesmee didn't force me into it."

Bella hissed.

I laughed.

"Fourteen times, Bella? You made him ask fourteen times?"

"I see Edward's been telling stories…"

"No wonder he begged. Fourteen proposals? I won't proofread a term paper fourteen times. It doesn't take fourteen moves to win a game of checkers! Fourteen?"

Bella huffed and stalked off, leaving me chuckling to myself.

Fourteen proposals? I sort of felt bad about giving Edward such a hard time. That half second Nessie let me hang there was scary as hell. I don't think I'd have had enough courage to try a second time.

Edward walked out the door.

"Congratulations are in order then?" Edward asked.

"Yup," I answered feeling a little smug.

"Take care of her," he said, sitting down beside me.

I didn't bother to acknowledge that comment, not vocally anyway, because the idea that I wouldn't take care of her was ludicrous.

"I take it Dr. Oz had luck?" I changed the subject.

"He was right about the skullcap, passionflower, valerian and wormwood. Dried herbs that were lit; the fumes would have had to have been inhaled. The pottery she used seemed to be more sentimental than mystical. Handmade with traces of her blood in it. Carlisle thinks using pieces of herself would have made the spell more personal. There were traces of her blood in the ash as well."

I snorted. "Pretty stupid using blood to subdue a half vampire… What was the deal with that anyways? I thought the witch wanted children."

"Years. Bella is right, Nessie is only seven. The power the witch wanted to tap into didn't care how mature she was up here," he paused to tap his temple, "it just cared how long she'd been alive."

"And the rock?" I asked.

"Howlite stone. Traditionally used for relieving stress, anger, and pain; calming the mind and body… It's harmless by itself so it would have been placed in the bowl with the herbs to act as an enhancer…"

That gave me pause… For Nessie's fourth birthday, I gave her an amethyst bead bracelet from a shop in Chinatown. The tag said it brought the wearer good health and peace of mind. I bought it because it was pretty and she was going through a purple phase. Now I'm thinking she should chuck it.

"Howlite stone," I repeated. "Howlite?"

Edward chuckled. "I found the name a bit ironic too."

"And Nessie will be fine?" I asked.

"Physically, yes. She's already satiated her thirst and she'll probably sleep while her body regenerates the energy its used… But our biggest concern will be how she deals with the fact she took a human life. Eventually, she will have to face it."

And we'd deal with it when the day came. For now, I was content to be engaged to the woman I loved.

* * *

><p><em>Epilogue<em>-_ish_?_ What do you mean Epilogue-__ish?_

_God knows I've read enough fan fiction to know a proper Epilogue ties up all the loose ends, not just some of them. And that most author prefer to add "The End" or "Fin" and I've even seen "They lived happily ever after."_

_I'm not going to do any of that. Most of these characters were granted immortality. There is no end for them unless they've been murdered. And I can't promise they will live happily ever after because these characters have a tendency to attract trouble and eternity is a very long time._

_I've been keeping track of reader requests, the ends I left loose and dangling, and things I was just curious about in general… In the end, I'm left with a hefty list of deleted scenes, outtakes, future-takes, and scenes from the past. Everything from how Simon met Madelyn to Jacob and Nessie's children to "will Seth and Embry ever find imprints of their own"…_

_So let me celebrate this small victory of bringing Nessie home safely._

_And I will see you all soon for the weddings!_

_Keep ME on Alerts, as I will post outtakes and deleted scenes under this story. I will post a complete list of upcoming outtakes and extras on my blog._


	24. Outtake 1: Leah and Kaleb's Wedding

Outtake 1: Leah and Kaleb's Wedding

"Jacob!" Alice squealed. "I need to see you! Right! Now!"

Nessie and I were curled up on the couch together watching some romantic flick called the Notebook. I was enjoying Nessie's body next to mine more than the movie, which seemed to be narrated mostly by some old dude to an Alzheimer patient. What is it with chicks and romantic tragedies?

"Jacob!" Alice yelled again.

"If you don't go she'll eventually come to take you by force…" Nessie murmured.

I groaned and rolled myself off the couch.

"I don't suppose you already know what she wants?"

Nessie shrugged. "Something about the wedding I'm sure…"

The wedding. It was all anyone could talk about.

Correction.

It was all Alice could talk about.

I slowly climbed the stairs to Alice and Jasper's bedroom slash fashion studio. I pushed open the door and froze. Their bed had been shoved into a corner and covered with yards of fabric. That explained why Jasper was so sour.

The dude wasn't getting any.

The floor space was dominated by three mannequins wearing dresses; one of which was tipped over and from the looks of things, Alice had put her fist through its face at some point. There was a sewing table, baskets of thread, lace and other trimmings. And of course, there was Alice, rocking on the floor like a panicked child, her knees pulled up to her chin and her arms tightly locked around her legs.

"Shorty? Is everything okay?"

"No Jacob, no! Everything is not okay! I kept putting off Leah's dress fitting because I thought she'd hate the dress! But now there isn't enough time to make a new dress if she does hate it!"

I looked at the dress. The top was form fitting, the bottom was ruffled but not poofy. The red sash around the waist separated the two pieces. I frowned. I could see why Alice was worried, to be honest. The dress was beautiful, but bridal wear was always nice. The dress was also mildly plain and considering the designer, that was odd. I'm sure Leah had asked for no extra volume because she was hoping for something that would flatter her lean figure, but even she wasn't such a bitch as to not appreciate how hard Alice had worked to keep her enthusiasm at an all time low.

"It's not bad, Alice. Leah will appreciate how… controlled you were."

"Controlled? You call that controlled?" Alice's voice was filled with disbelief.

I looked at her and realized she wasn't pointing at the pretty, but slightly average wedding dress. She was pointing at the bright red dress beside it.

"That's Leah's wedding dress!" I blurted in shock. "I thought that was a ball gown!"

"A ball gown? For who? Jesus, Jacob, who in this family besides Leah, has the legs to pull off that dress?"

"Then what's the white thing?"

"A bridesmaid-"

"What! Alice, there is no way in hell I'm wearing a dress! What kind of sick-"

"Will you relax?" She cut me off, bounding to her feet. "It was just incase Leah changed her mind and wanted a woman up there with her! I've already got your suit hanging in the closet!"

I relaxed for a moment and looked at the bright dress.

Now I really saw Alice's problem.

I could be wrong, but something told me that when Leah mentioned color, she didn't mean that much color. And the gown would indeed enhance Leah's figure, but the problem was it almost would enhance it too much. This dress was more along the lines of something that would be seen strolling down a red carpet award ceremony than something that would be walking down an aisle to organ music.

There was plenty of white fabric, but it was all under bright red satin draping that split open in the front. The white that could be seen, belonged to ruffles of some expensive flowery lace that was tinged with a champagne glimmer along the edges. The red silk had detailing; around the waistline Alice had hand embroidered silver thread and pearl beads to create a floral look similar to the lace. It was bright, it was sexy, and it was not a traditional wedding dress.

"Alice… This is insane…" I whispered.

"I know!" she groaned. "It's so over the top! But look! Look I started with this one…"

Alice picked up the broken mannequin in a more traditional dress. Alice had sewn some kind of red foil into the fabric, but the overall impression was very white. The shape was fine, but the color added nothing.

"So…you went from too little to too much?"

"See! It's bad isn't it? It isn't just me! If Leah wears this dress she'll look so… _boring_. She's a bride Jacob! No bride wants to be remembered as boring! But if she wears that one…"

It certainly wasn't boring.

"What do you want from me?" I asked.

"Well, you know her better than me. Will she like it? If not can you convince her to wear it anyway?"

I stared at the bright dress quietly because the truth was I had no idea if Leah would like it. But I did know if Leah hated it, no power on this planet would put her in it.

"You guys better figure it out because she just pulled in the drive!" Nessie called from the living room.

There was nothing left to do but wait for Leah. Alice was right, there was no time left. Leah didn't wait for an invite. She walked in the door, up the stairs, down the hall… I think Alice stopped breathing. Leah flung open the door with a big stupid grin on her face.

Then she froze.

Her face showed confusion as she looked at me standing all awkward and out of place, then more confusion as she looked at the dresses.

"Which one?" she asked.

Alice rocked on her heals and then pointed at the non-wedding dress, wedding dress.

Leah stared at the gown for a moment and then approached it slowly like it might bite her. She frowned at it and then carefully spun the mannequin to see the back. And then she spun it again to see the front. She backed away with a thoughtful frown on her face.

"This is your idea of good behavior?" Leah asked not daring to look at Alice who in turn couldn't bring herself to look at Leah.

Another second of awkward silence and then Leah said, "It's more red than I wanted."

I started backing slowly toward the door. One of these females was about to have a meltdown I was sure of it. There were some things I did not want to witness.

"And it's so… glamorous." Leah said.

Alice broke first. "I know, I know, it's more than you wanted! Look I can do some quick fixes, subtract a few beads, I can cut the seam and try to replace-"

"Don't you dare," Leah growled.

I froze inches from the door.

Escape was near.

"I kind of love it, Alice."

"What?" Alice asked.

"Yeah… What?" I repeated.

"I mean the color is out of control and it's so… sexy. I mean it's bordering on scandalous. But I almost think that makes it better. It is our family we're talking about and when are we not scandalous?" She laughed. "Jacob, get out! I want to try this on!"

I was so shocked I forgot how to move my feet.

I was just sitting down on the sofa when I heard Leah shriek with something I hoped was delight.

"Holy shit!" she yelled. "It's beautiful! And I look fuck hot!"

Nessie giggled. "I hope Alice is that good with my dress."

"Nessie, if Alice makes you a dress like that, I'm not ashamed to say you won't be making it off that altar with your clothes on. Kaleb's in deep trouble."

She stared at the movie for a few more seconds then leapt off the couch.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Upstairs. This movie blows and I want to get a look at this monster."

I waited until I heard Alice's bedroom door open and then I changed the channel. I tried to reduce the squealing and giggling to white noise and tried not to worry about what would happen when Alice sunk her fangs into my wedding.

* * *

><p>Theme wedding.<p>

Even as a guy, I know that a theme wedding is the most dreaded wedding in history. As an honorary Cullen, I know only Alice could make a themed wedding exquisite. It wasn't planned to be a themed wedding. But after Leah's outrageous dress was discovered, Alice and Leah conspired to make a few last minute changes to help soften the shock on the guests. The end result was a Seasonal Winter Wonderland effect.

We rented out a local Bed & Breakfast; some enormous Victorian farmhouse surrounded by acres of snow. The Inn keeper was hesitant at first; he liked to rent out rooms to city born tourists looking to connect with nature and artists seeking seclusion and silence. Luckily for us, Alice wrote him a number that was more than fair. He cleared out his guests and stepped back to watch Alice transform his house into a fairytale setting.

Step one was clearing out the dining hall. It was a long room with a high ceiling, perfect for the ceremony itself. Step two was clearing out the rec room which consisted of a billiards table, a couple of couches, and a TV, among a handful of other furniture that would just get in the way. The rec room was square and wide with a glass panel wall that gave a broad view of the farmland and the scenic mountains behind it.

After Alice had personally seen the furniture safely to a storage facility, she began re-decorating to a theme of winter whimsy. First came the obvious items. She laid out a white carpet from one end of the dining room to the other; the aisle. Alice grinned impishly as she set up the white chairs, which of course made Leah suspicious that Alice was keeping secrets.

Then the accents arrived. The entire aisle was lined with artificial, bejeweled, frosted, bare trees. They loomed into the center creating an almost, but not quite, arch for Leah to walk under. Alice removed the electrified candelabra and replaced it with an elaborate crystal chandelier that looked like a cluster of icicles hanging from the ceiling. She covered up the hard wood walls with lace canvas to add to the feeling of being stuck in a world of snow and ice.

I hovered behind her as she plugged wires into some kind of switch board.

"What's with all the wires?" I asked.

"Finishing touches. I just want to make sure they work…" she muttered.

"Make sure what works?" What finishing touches could she possibly add?

She looked up at me and frowned.

"Go," she pointed to the entrance of the hall. "Be Leah."

"What?"

"You heard me. Go pretend like you're about to walk down the aisle."

I sighed with exasperation and did as she asked. Don't get me wrong. I loved Alice. But did she have to make a spectacle of everything?

I walked around the corner and out of sight.

"Tell me when," I called.

"Wait for it. Wait… Ah hah!" There was a moment and then she called, "Now."

I came back and froze in the entry in shock.

That little sneak.

All the trees had their own lighting. As did the aisle and walls. As I entered the room Alice switched off the inn's lighting and switched on the pale LED bulbs that bathed the room in a dim pale glow. The atmosphere made me shiver with imagined cold.

"March, Jacob! I need to see…" Alice ordered.

I took a step into the room and nothing happened. Another step and then the lighting changed again.

The lights switched from the white to pale blue; suddenly it felt like an evening stroll through the woods. Only the lights lining the aisle stayed white; so Leah wouldn't miss her marks no doubt. But I noticed how the pale blue changed the coloring in the room; everything white was the same blue as the lights and I imagined that the bright red of Leah's dress would look purple. I walked down past the empty chairs that would soon be filled with family and friends all the way to the altar. When I stepped up, the lighting on the altar shifted back in pale white, while the audience was still cloaked in blue; putting a subtle spotlight on the happy couple.

Alice giggled with glee.

Leah would shock everyone who stood to watch her enter; standing in the doorway with her bright dress. Then she'd awe them as the gown turned to shimmering purple; under the colored lights. And then back to the red as she joined with Kaleb at the front of the room. I doubted Leah knew about the lighting, but I didn't think she'd mind it.

"Alice." I called her name sternly.

Her face fell.

"Too much?" she asked.

"You're a genius." I told her, grinning.

She grinned ear to ear.

"Excellent," Alice said. "Help me finish up with the reception hall."

The reception hall had more warmth because the lighting had not been swapped for colored bulbs and the wooden walls had not been hidden by drapes. But the winter theme was evident. The tables were draped in silver and white linens. The centerpieces were poinsettia candle-wreaths with thick silver candles at the center. The wreaths had been lightly frosted to look like they'd endured a snow flurry; all the glassware had been frosted to resemble ice. And of course one only had to look out the window wall to see the panoramic snow covered farmland outside.

"Alice," I said, as she ran her hands over the table clothes flattening wrinkles. "I think it's done."

"I think you're right," she said stepping into the center of the room - the dance floor- and spinning gracefully.

"You don't think this floor is too waxy? I don't want anyone to slip…"

"The floor is fine, Alice."

She looked at me with a serious expression on her face.

"I need this to be perfect, Jacob. I need this to go off without a hitch."

"Well, that's a shame," I joked, "because I'm pretty sure Leah and Kaleb intend to get hitched."

"That's not funny!" she snapped.

I jumped in surprise at her anger.

Alice looked at her hands in an uncharacteristically timid way.

"Jacob, Leah was hurting for so long. And then she joined our family and never _joined_ our family. She said it was her distaste for vampires that kept her distant over the years but you know that's not the full truth. It added to her pain to see everyone else so happy, when she wasn't. Now Leah's found her soul mate. And if all I can give her is the perfect wedding, I will. I have too. She has to know she's _loved_."

"Alice, she _knows_. And if there is any doubt, it won't remain when she walks into this place and sees the effort behind it," I told her.

Alice's forehead scrunched in consternation and I walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her tiny shoulder tucking her to my side.

"Don't worry, little sister," I said and leading her out of the room and toward the kitchen. "Now I know the caterers have already brought the cake. Give me a little peak. Please?"

* * *

><p>"Dad!" Bella shrieked; I turned to see her blur of movement to the door.<p>

He had more wrinkles than I remembered. He had less hair; the few clumps that stubbornly clung to his scalp were graying fast. His moustache was still impressive as ever; Sue never could get him to shave it. But it was unmistakably Charlie Swan entering the inn. He didn't look surprised or upset that his daughter hadn't changed over the years. He swept her up in his arms and held her tight.

Sue hovered politely behind his shoulder. She was older too. Her body looked a little thinner, a little more fragile, but she still emitted the strength of her ancestors with her straight back and stern face. She stepped in to give Bella a quick hug and an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

"So where is our new son-in-law to be?" she asked, her eyes roving curiously over all the young strangers milling around. Her eyes landed on me and recognition flashed in her face.

"Jacob!" Charlie and Sue called out at the same time.

I hugged them both, but it was Sue who put a firm hand on my shoulder and pushed me back. I shifted as here eagle eyes evaluated me.

"Well, something's different," she said.

I frowned and looked down. Aside from the fact that I was in a suit for once, I was still the same old Jacob.

Charlie hmm'd in his throat and I looked up to see a smirk on his face. "He looks… The way Edward did _after_ Bella said yes. If I go looking for my granddaughter will I find a ring on her finger?"

"I thought you wanted to meet your new son-in-law before he says, I do?" I changed the subject.

Sue laughed. "Well, go get him!"

I wandered around to the kitchen where Kaleb was standing in a white tux with a red vest and tie underneath, talking to his parents. It was clever really; mirroring Leah and Kaleb. Leah would have the red with the white trim and Kaleb would be white with red.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt," I said, causing them to look.

"Jacob, what do you think about this?" Kaleb asked nervously gesturing to his suit. "I don't know…"

"No, but Alice does," I answered with a laugh. "Just be thankful you're not paying for all this."

"Well, I think you look spectacular," said his mom, straightening the lapels of his jacket.

"Leah's mother and step-father are both here and hoping to get a few words with you before the ceremony."

Kaleb looked relieved to have a reason to escaping his fussing mother. He stepped up beside me and walked, but I noticed right away when his feet started to drag.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing. I am marrying the woman of my dreams. What could be wrong?" he babbled nervously.

I laughed.

"Look, try something old-fashioned. When I introduce you, just keep it simple. _Hello, I'm Kaleb… _The wedding will be starting in a few minutes; they'll have the rest of their lives to interrogate you…"

He repeated, "Simple."

Charlie kept the meeting dignified. He stepped forward to shake Kaleb's hand; he congratulated the young man on capturing Leah's heart. Sue ignored Kaleb's outstretched hand; she wrapped her arms around his brawny frame and cried taking care to keep her running makeup from his bright tux. Then she declared her love for her new son.

"People!" Alice screamed bringing the mingling to a standstill. "When I left this room, you were all ushered and seated! Where the hell is my officiator?"

I blinked in surprise.

Where was Billy?

Angry shouting from the door caused me to turn.

"Put me down, you beast!"

My father voice shouted angrily as Rosalie swung the door open. Emmett, with a hand on each wheel of the chair, carried my father into the house.

"Look what we found parked in a snow drift!" Emmett announced.

"Good!" shouted Alice drawing attention back to herself. "Now get to your places or I'll tie you to them!"

Everyone was re-ushered back to their seats except for the smart few who had remembered their place and couldn't be bothered with the ceremony of a guide.

Alice knelt down and cleaned the slush and salt residue from Billy's tires before allowing him to roll off toward his place.

* * *

><p>Leah had gone with a violinist instead of a pianist; Alice had gone with a quartet instead of a violinist. When the music started, Leah looked more amused than annoyed; I was glad that she was in love because she was really going to need that amusement when she caught the light show.<p>

Kaleb's groomsmen, Tom and Mike, were already positioned beside him.

Claire Young stood at the center of the procession with her basket of flower petals; she was a small ten year old, but she was sharp as a tack. Leah had been delighted when Quil agreed to her wedding invitation and even more so when he asked Claire if she'd like to be Leah's flower girl. She looked pretty in a gown of ice blue snowflakes and a sash tied with a poinsettia clip, but now as it was her job to start the procession she looked sick.

I knelt down out of sight of the guests but in her line of vision and whispered, "What's wrong?"

"What if I mess up? They'll all see me."

"So what?" I told her, trying to think of something that would ease her stage fright. "You think Leah intended to fall in love with a bear? Today is all about celebrating beautiful mistakes."

Claire nodded and inhaled.

She stepped out of one room and into the other; I heard her gasp as she saw the winter decorations. I peaked around the corner waiting for her to hit her mark. She never did. She stumbled as her short heel caught the rug and some pale petals spilled out of the basket. She froze, as family on one side and strangers on the other, stared at her. She hesitated; the outgoing girl from La Push disappearing in the chaos of blush colored petals on white carpet.

I mouthed sorry to Alice who was mouthing something about the time lapse.

I stepped out behind Claire and offered my arm to her.

"Together then?" I asked; she nodded reaching up to grab my arm.

I wound up walking down the aisle ahead of schedule, but guessing from the sappy looks from the guests, the grateful look on Quil's face, and the intrigued smile on Nessie's face, nobody minded the change in plans. Claire managed to spread out the remaining petals successfully as we made our way to the front.

I took my place and turned to watch Embry make his way down the aisle. He looked more nervous than Claire and I resisted the urge to laugh. He glanced up at the lighted trees lining the aisle with a question in his eyes. When he took his place next to me, he leaned in and whispered.

"Did Leah really sign off on all of this? It looks like Alice raided Lady Gaga's greenhouse," Embry joked.

"Shut up," I hissed as the music changed.

Seth stood arm in arm with Leah.

And Leah looked breathtaking in her gown. The way it looked hanging on that mannequin couldn't compare with the way it was on her. The white and champagne ruffles flared with every step she took; the pearl details shimmered like snow in the special lighting. She walked past the first invisible marker and when the lights switched to blue, her dress came to life the way a shadow has life; undulating around her body like an extension. The bouquet was very simple; white Nerine Lilies looked delicate as snowflakes and stood out against the backdrop of her red dress.

Her eyes widened in surprise at the lighting change, but she'd seen Kaleb waiting with his big love struck grin and she wasn't paying attention to much else. As they neared the altar, the lights switched again and I heard Alice smother an excited giggle.

Seth squeezed Leah's hand and leaned in to whisper something in her ear that made a tear trickle down a high cheekbone. Then he put her hand in Kaleb's and took his place.

Billy cleared his throat.

"Love isn't a decision. It's a feeling. If we could decide who we loved, it would be much simpler, but much less magical."

I recognized the quote at once. Leah didn't notice, but I sent a glare at Nessie and Emmett. Renesmee's brown eyes widened with faux innocence and Emmett turned his head to chuckle into Rosalie's neck. I focused on the moment at hand; I'd talk to them later and hoped no one ever had the balls to tell Leah that when Billy went fishing for quotes on love, Emmett and Nessie gave him one from South Park.

"Today we gather here to witness a miracle. The magic of two people we hold so dear, Leah Suzette Clearwater and Kaleb Tristan Dupont, finding love. Declaring their bond, pledging to spend their lives in an eternal partnership, that neither time nor distance can destroy."

He paused.

"Now I do believe that they've written their own vows for this occasion. Leah, beloved daughter and sister, speak."

And Leah did speak and there wasn't a person in the room who was left unmoved by her words.

"Kaleb, for the longest time, I thought I was destined to be alone. Always on the periphery of love, looking in, but never experiencing it for myself. Then one night you stumbled into my life and in a heartbeat I knew everything had changed." Tears began to slide down her cheeks as she stared deep into Kaleb's eyes. "I knew I would never have to be alone again." Her voice broke with the strength of her emotion and she paused to take a steadying breath. When she continued on her voice was stronger. "In a heartbeat I knew I would never let you be alone again either. I promise to cherish you, support you, protect you, respect you, and above all love you, for the rest of our lives together. Kaleb Dupont, I love you more than anything and I am now and forever will be yours."

"Kaleb, beloved son and brother, speak."

What Kaleb said was unexpected…and possibly the most I'd ever heard him say at one time. But mostly it was beautiful.

"The night I met you, Leah, my heart broke. My heart broke because your heart was broken. I could hear how you hurt and I hurt for you. My heart broke because I couldn't understand how an angel could be left standing alone. My heart broke because I felt shamed… Shamed because I didn't know that I'd been looking for you my whole life. It seems like something I should have known. That there was an angel in this world hurting and waiting. I should have found you so much sooner." He paused and in his silence I could hear female sobs among the witnesses, but I couldn't tear my eyes from the union before me to find who was breaking from the sentiment.

"I promise, no matter what happens and no matter where life takes us, I will never leave you waiting again. I won't ever cause you hurt and I will never let you be lonely again, my angel, my Leah. I love you."

_I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry…_ I chanted to myself as I felt my manhood try to shrink a couple of sizes.

"Rings, please?" Billy prompted.

I handed Leah her ring as Tom hand Kaleb his.

The wedding rings were probably the only this simple and traditional about this wedding. They were simple gold bands with carved leaves tracing the outside surface, while the inside had been engraved with love.

Kaleb slid his band onto Leah's finger. She slid hers onto his.

"I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Kaleb smiled softly but moved fast. One had landed on Leah's hip, pulling her close while the other fit the curve of her cheek, pulling her lips to his.

* * *

><p>"Excuse me!" Alice called from the tiny stage where she'd set up a bored looking DJ - otherwise known as Emmett - with a mike in her hand. She smiled politely as she captured everyone's attention and I couldn't help but notice how relaxed she looked now that everything was going according to plan. "I hope everyone's enjoyed the meal, but I do believe its time for the bride and groom to cut the cake!"<p>

Right on cue, a caterer came into the room pushing a large cake on a trolley. I knew from the night before that the cake was red velvet with butter-cream frosting. But this was my first time seeing the cake with its floral finishing touches and the personalized cake-topper where mini-Leah and mini-Kaleb stood arm in arm. Each tier of cake was raised up, seemingly supported by a wreath of poinsettias. I had wondered about that; why the tiers had been raised instead of stacked. The cake had looked… sad, with all its big empty spaces. But now it looked happy… if you could tie emotion to a pastry.

I felt a set of warm fingers wrap around my own. I glanced at the chair next to me and Renesmee was watching me closely.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

I shrugged. "The cake looks happy."

She gave an unladylike snort of humor. She glanced at the cake and then at the Leah and Kaleb.

"I think the people cutting the cake look happy."

"Yeah," I agreed.

I was trying to think of the last time I'd seen Leah smile so big. The sad truth was I couldn't remember.

"You think she'll be okay now?" Nessie asked.

I swear sometimes that girl could read my mind. I wasn't the psychic in the family - _she_ was hiding under the cake table trying to instruct Leah and Kaleb how to cut around the wreath - but I certainly hoped Leah's future was much happier than her past.

"When did Alice slip under the table cloth?" I asked.

"Dunno," she giggled. "I learned to stop noticing that sort of thing."

They managed just fine and piloted the slices of cake past each others lips. Kaleb grabbed Leah's wrist and he put her frosting covered finger tips to his lips in a romantic gesture that incited a couple of cat calls.

_I'm smushing it in your face, _Nessie's voice echoed in my head.

"Not if I smush it in yours first," I whispered.

_And what about us?_ She asked, but I didn't quite follow the question.

"What about us?" I asked.

_Will we be okay?_

I looked over at her. Her face was so serious I couldn't help but smile. For someone so brilliant, she had a tendency to be so silly.

I leaned in and whispered, "We're going to be perfect."

_Sure, sure,_ she answered and smiled.

I looked at her soft lips, admired the gentle way they curved… And I wanted to feel them again. I leaned in and stole a kiss.

We were perfect.

* * *

><p>"Yo!" Emmett's voice boomed over the microphone. "The wedding planner has instructed me not to start this party until the toasts have been given. So I say let's move this thing along!"<p>

There were a few chuckles from the onlooker but most had their mouths stuffed with the cake that tasted like it'd been baked by God himself. If I didn't love Nessie so much… Whoever wound up married to the baker would be a very lucky man indeed. I noticed Nessie staring at me. It was times like these her sharp mind had me worried. The accusatory glare she was sending me told me I might be enjoying another woman's cake a little too much.

"Leah's best man, get front and center."

_Thank you, Emmett._

I swallowed down my cake and stood; Renesmee stopped my by reaching out to straighten my tie. She smiled sweetly and let me go… I bet she was imagining strangling me with it. She and Edward had a lot more than hair color in common.

I crossed the room and took the mike in one hand and reached in my pocket for my note cards. I froze. I felt my other pocket. They were both empty. It was surprisingly easy to figure out what had happened.

_Thief_.

I shot a glare at Renesmee who gave away nothing.

I could wing it.

"I'm sorry for the hesitation, it seems I dropped my speech somewhere…" I cleared my throat nervously. "I know it's usual to open with a joke; but I couldn't find anything to make fun of. The fact is this day is as unfunny as it gets." _That was a lie, _I thought. I had a joke… I just couldn't remember it on the fly. "My sister, Leah, has been looking for a very long time for the man of her dreams. Many people go their whole lives without finding their other half and wind up, settling. Leah would not settle. And I admit, everyday I saw her sadness and I worried. But today I watched something miraculous; Leah did not settle. She found who she was looking for. She found her other half.

"And I've never been happier or prouder to call another man, my brother. So if it hasn't been said already, welcome to the family, Kaleb. I wish you and my sister, both a long and happy life together."

Emmett took the mike back and covered the head with his hand.

"That wasn't the speech you rehearsed?" he asked.

"No. Your niece stole my speech," I hissed.

He nodded his head like it all made perfect sense although I'm pretty sure he had no clue.

"Tom?"

Tom walked up, pulling out his notes as he did, the lucky SOB.

I sat back down in my chair and leaned in to Nessie.

"I'll get you for that," I threatened.

Renesmee just smirked and said, "No, you won't."

She gave the appearance of listening intently to the toast and I wondered if she had any idea what she was doing to me. The sad reality was that she was right; I'd never get back at her.

* * *

><p>"Let's get our newlyweds to the dance floor!" Emmett hollered. "Everyone with a partner, get up and get a good look! This could be you in a few years!"<p>

I laughed into my champagne. Emmett loved his DJ duties. Barking out orders like a confused drill sergeant at a rock concert, he made formalities a hell of a lot less formal.

"The bride and groom need a moment more of rubbing in their wedded bliss! But I'm told you're welcome to join them when you feel they've had enough!"

I admit I was curious about the opening dance number; it was the one detail I hadn't overheard. I was surprised to hear piano coming from the speakers, followed by a deep voice…

"_I'm making this one special evening… Taking a chance in my life…"_

"Michael Bublé," Nessie leaned in to whisper. "Love At First Sight."

"_Hoping you feel the same way as I do tonight…"_

I took her arm and stood up edging closer to the dance floor. Something else besides the song choice surprised me. Leah and Kaleb were dancing like they fell out of Dancing With The Stars or something. No, they were dancing better than those people; _those_ people stumbled.

"_Oh, j__ust try… and look into my eyes…"_

Leah and Kaleb glided around the dance floor effortlessly. With complex moves that matched the music; slowing down and speeding up as the piano and saxophone demanded. He held her so close you would have thought it was impossible for them to not misstep on the other's toes.

"_Don't be scared… of what you might see there…"_

"Mmmf…" I looked over at Embry who was eating… Mini-Kaleb?

"Embry, is that part of the centerpiece?" I asked.

"Yup, the baker made it out of sugar," he said though a mouthful of waxy, sugary, groom doll. "Need a hand?" He asked plucking an arm off and offering it to me.

I wrinkled my nose in distaste and he popped it in his own mouth.

"_The first time… I saw you…I knew love at first sight must be true… so true... Oh so true…"_

"Embry, be honest," I asked turning back to the spectacle on the dance floor. "Am I the only one in the family who can't dance?"

"Nah," he said, nodding toward my dad. "Billy can't dance. Of course he does have a reason…"

"_And now… I just have to explain… why I feel this way…"_

"Will the parents get out to the dance floor?" boomed Emmett.

Nessie giggled. "I think Emmett's found his calling."

"_I feel joy, I feel pain…"_

Kaleb's parents, Gale and Dahlia, drifted out, looking a bit nervous. In hindsight, they had a right to be; they were expected to accept vampires as in-laws after spending so many years hating the enemy species… And considering they hadn't been given much time to accept the new arrangements they were handling things pretty well. Sue had to drag Charlie out; he wasn't much for dancing, but he couldn't say no to her.

"_You're in my heart… and it's tearing me apart…"_

A few more couples drifted out on to the floor, dancing respectfully around the outer fringes of the moment. I didn't blame them for being hesitant; for all the people in the room not one person missed the way Kaleb held Leah or the way she looked at him. It felt like we were witnessing some half-forbidden intimacy best left behind closed doors for their knowledge only.

"…'_Cause I love you…I love you… I love you…"_ As Michael Bublé crooned his last endearment, Nessie squeezed my arm.

I wasn't sure who pulled who out onto the dance floor; but I was suddenly very aware of her warm body in my arms.

So this is why chicks like weddings… Romance is contagious.

Nessie projected a memory; the last sentence of the song played back for me to re-experience. _"_…'_Cause I love you…I love you… I love you…"_ She also showed me how I looked tonight; in her eyes at the very least.

I saw myself standing tall and strong in a frost colored suit, smiling down at a nervous little girl and leading her down the aisle. I saw myself standing nervously at the head of the room, reciting a heartfelt speech, that she had unsuccessfully tried to sabotage. I saw myself moving confidently across a crowded dance floor, holding my love safely, securely in my arms, staring at her as if she were the only important thing in the world… And let's face it, to me, Nessie was the only important thing in my world.

Most importantly, as I danced with Renesmee, I saw myself loved.

* * *

><p><strong>There are extras on my blog.<strong>

**equivampsnotebook_DOT_blogspot_DOT_com**

**Please note: Despite FFnet's new guest review policy, I still prefer signed reviews. I can't respond to reviews if you don't hold an account. Any and all guest reviews will be deleted. Please don't take it personally.**


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